Uplifting Apocalyptic Musings: Ulises' Blog O' Tragical Mirth

Recession-proof publishing?

2009-08-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

An idea that’s been gaining traction with me is publishing my new novel, Inventing Vazquez, as a free serialized online novel.

I know I haven’t exhausted my options in terms of looking for a literary agent (I’m now up to about 30 rejections), but the reality is that it’s going to be extremely hard to land one in this economy. So the question facing me is: do I have the will to go through another 70 rejections, or do I want to get this story out, no matter what?

Self-publishing is not an option for me at this point. Not only can I not afford it, but after the nightmare that was having my distributor bought out by AtlasBooks, I don’t know that I want to deal with that nonsense again.

So the alternative is, of course, publishing it for free online. I’ve done it before. In fact, my first ‘novel’ was an online serial, a novel-length Anime fanfic I did way back in the day. It was odd because I didn’t intend for it to be a novel. I started writing a fanfic, thought it’d be a short story, but as the story kept evolving, and my site got more and more traffic from interested readers, the project took on a life of its own. And so, 500 pages later, I’d completed the novel, and amassed an impressive readership.

With Inventing Vazquez, I guess I’d post the first five chapters, promote the site anyway I could, and then start posting new chapters about once or twice a month. And with 65 chapters, I’d say there’d be plenty to keep an audience interested in for a while.

It’d be the best way to tell the story now, and it’s a story I want to tell. As a Latino, I can barely go a week without seeing something on TV or film that insults me. I think most people of color can say the same thing. So this is a story for anyone who’s ever felt like mainstream media treats us like non-entities. And it’s a funny story that, I hope, will put a smile on the face of anyone who reads it regardless of race.

So there’s the sense of immediacy—I want this story to get out, and through traditional publishing mediums, it could be at least two years before it is.

But I have to weigh that against the dreams that I and every other writer holds—we all dream of that first published book (and yes, Solstice was published, but self-published) and receiving that first advance check from the publisher, or even getting that phone call from an agent saying, “I’d like to discuss representation.” Make no mistake, I don’t seek fame or fortune, but I’ve had these dreams too. For as long as I’ve been a writer (the better part of 20 years), I’ve dreamed of the day I became a legitimate author (and I think many people would argue being self-published isn’t legitimate).

Inventing Vazquez, I thought, would be a novel that could get me there. I think it’s infinitely better than Solstice, and has a broader commercial appeal because of its humor. So it’s a difficult decision I need to make. Do I abandon my dream for a while longer and publish a novel online for the sake of telling the story, or do I hold out for the hope that an agent will eventually be interested? Do I take full control over things and publish it online at a price (free) that anyone can afford, or do I trust myself to the universe and hope it’ll help me fulfill my publishing dreams?

The pros of publishing online are, of course, full control, and a chance to interact with readers. That’s one of my fondest memories of publishing my first serialized novel: I got to meet a lot of people online, and chat with them about my work. And, well, there’s always a distant chance that, if the novel gains some traction that way, a publisher might take interest.

The cons are, of course, not being “legitimate,” and not having the tactile reality of a book in your hands, or being able to say the novel you worked so hard on is now available in bookstores.

Well, I guess I have to think on it for a while. Probably harder to do so with all the things unraveling in my personal life, but oh well, have to keep moving forward somehow.

One final note: my band is now named Guru Hissy Fit, and we have a web site with samples of our songs. We hope to start playing out in September. Drop by, take a listen, and become a fan on Facebook if you like.

Peace.

A small accomplishment...for now

2009-06-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, I finished what I’m calling the ‘final’ (for now) draft of my second novel, Inventing Vazquez. It’s the fifth rewrite, I think, and the draft I feel is strong, tight, and cohesive enough to merit publishing consideration. Yeah, I know every writer says that about his or her own work, but at some point, we need to be able to say, “It’s done!” Even if we all agree that every book is always a work in progress.

But, for the sake of argument and an abstract sense of accomplishment, let me just declare…Inventing Vazquez is DONE…for now. I’m sure there will be more changes to it. Hopefully that’s after I have an agent read the thing and suggest ways of making it more publishable.

That’s the next step, obviously: stepping up my agent search once more. I haven’t sent out any new queries in the past few weeks, but will probably send some out before the week is over. Who knows, maybe the universe will let me score a lucky hit this time around.

Now that I consider Inventing Vazquez a completed work (for now), I’m returning to its sequel, Electing Choi. I have so many crazy, zany ideas for that story, I can’t wait to get to them. It’s already proving as zany a story as Inventing Vazquez (my motto is ‘all zany, all the time’ after all), and I’m particularly looking forward to working with the two characters who have the biggest twists this time around. I’m past page 100 of that novel, so I’m well past the point of “I have an idea” and firmly in the “I’m writing a new novel” camp.

Writing and music are the things keeping me afloat these days. It’s basically only through my writing and my music (my band is coming along nicely, even though we’re now without a drummer) that I’m feeling any real sense of accomplishment these days. I’ve given up hope of ever have anything resembling a career path at work (I work at a company where ambition and drive seem to be liabilities if you’re not talking golf with some exec every day), and conceded that all my best efforts and work will always be rewarded with indifference. My job is to help others get promoted, even though I’m at the second and last step of my so-called career ladder and easy to overlook despite my contributions. Oh well. I consider myself a writer, first and foremost. I can still dream that, some day, I’ll be able to make a decent living out of being one full-time.

I might be taking a trip out to Chicago soon, just to do a little soul-searching and maybe find some new direction and/or inspiration. I’ve felt a little adrift these past few months, and a big, painful transition on the horizon is sure to worsen things.

But I’m grateful for what I have. I thank the universe and my lucky stars that I have the ability to put thoughts down on paper and share stories with people. I thank the universe that I was able to write Inventing Vazquez, and I hope it’ll give me a hand in finding the right agent to help me get this story out.

Looking for an agent? Get whatever help you can.

2009-05-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt, trying to land an agent is harder than actually writing your novel. I’ve known this for a long time, and my recent, and thus far unsuccessful, agent search is only confirming this with each passing day of silence. I’ve already passed the 10-rejection mark, with nary an idea of what I’m doing wrong. Such is the beauty of form rejection letters, I suppose. (Although I did receive one rejection that didn’t even bother with form, or even proper punctuation. Good as reason as any, I suppose, not to work with them.)

For a DIY person like me, who likes to do things himself to generate fast results, the agent search is particularly hard. So much of this is out of my control, it’s frustrating and maddening to no end. Writing and editing your novel, that’s something you have full control over: trying to sell that novel, and trying to convince an agent inundated in thousands of weekly queries, is another story. You can’t control whether the agent is having a bad day and dismisses your query on whim. You can’t control it if it’s some poor overworked assistant who’s just trying to get through his cluttered inbox. You can’t control it if the reader simply doesn’t like the name of your main character.

What to do in these instances? Get any help you can. Not only for help in perfecting your query package, but to help you get through it emotionally.

Here’s where I wish I weren’t on a desert island all the time. I’ve worked inside a bubble for most of my literary life, whether by choice or circumstance. As a result, I don’t exactly have a group or a mentor I can turn to who know the ins and outs of publishing, and who could provide assistance. I haven’t been able to turn to anyone and ask, “What’s wrong with my query letter?” This is mostly because I’ve never had a network of fellow writers or a mentor I could turn to, and it’s a mistake I wouldn’t encourage you to repeat.

I think most writers are smart enough to immerse themselves among a group of peers, whether in real life or through the Internet. If you haven’t, I encourage you to do so, because I’m learning the hard way that this process is as laborious and exhausting as raising a child. And as the old saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Likewise, it takes a village, or at least a creative community, to raise a novel from conception to publication.

Here’s the other reason why it’s good to have a network of support: moral support. The agent search process is long, grueling, and it will gradually shred your confidence until you’re convinced you’re the worst writer and the novel you thought was so great is a total piece of crap. In these times, it’s good to have a network of support that knows what you’re going through, and provide not only objective advice, but informed direction. It’s one thing for a family member to say, “Hey, it’s a great novel, just keep at it.” It’s another for someone who’s been through the agent search process to say, “It’s a good novel, but when I went through the same, here’s what I did.” I don’t know, maybe I’ve just fallen too deep into a “my writing sucks” mindset to think clearly, but sometimes I think this would be more manageable if I didn’t feel like I was on my own for this difficult process.

I guess it’s just been a very difficult few months, and I’m struggling to hold on in my personal and professional life. Problems at work, uncertainties at home, and a growing sense of self-loathing are only being exacerbated by this frustrating agent search. I’m sure that, as I near the 50-rejection mark, I’ll probably feel worse than I do now. I guess I have to hope that, at some point, some agent decides to at least give Inventing Vazquez a read. Otherwise, I may have to consider alternative publishing arrangements just to get this story out. And since I couldn’t afford self-publishing anymore, I might just post it online and let the story be told. Who knows.

Well, so much for never writing a blog entry while depressed. Many apologies.

Certainties and Uncertainties

2009-04-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

It’s been a strange month. There’s been movement on some fronts, none on others, and new uncertainties in others. That’s the way things go, I guess.

There’s some good news to share, I think. As of this moment, my band, tentatively named The Pineapple Brigade, is active. Yesterday, we auditioned a female singer who turned out to add that missing element to our songs. I think she was amazing, as did the rest of the band. In fact, I knew within ten seconds of hearing her sing my song, Frozen Summer, that I wanted her in the band. What she did to that song was something I hadn’t expected, but that was stunning all the same. So we’re now set as a five-piece. It’s kind of exciting to think that, after all this work and all these frustrating attempts to find like-minded musicians in the area, I’ve finally put together the right people for this musical project.

The next step is to think of a new band name. The five of us agreed that the project has outgrown the Pineapple Brigade name, and so we want something that’s more reflective of the indie rock, diversified nature of our music. So there’s that, and nailing down the next half of our ten-song set list. We’ve got plenty of original songs to choose from, we just need to decide which we’ll be concentrating on for now. I’m also calling for us to record a three-song demo next month. I can’t wait for that. I can’t wait to hear these songs sound like they were meant to.

So that’s one thing that’s moving along. Another is Electing Choi, my sequel to Inventing Vazquez. After several bouts of writer’s block, I’ve gotten back on track with that. Currently, I’m on page 80 of the first draft, which isn’t too bad. I think 100 pages will be a cool first milestone.

Nothing so far on the literary agent search for Inventing Vazquez. It’s still a waiting game, but the most frustrating part is not even knowing how many of my applications are even still in play. I’ve already received three rejections, but my others are still unanswered. I don’t know if this means I’m being considered, or they haven’t even read it, or if they read it, tossed it, and aren’t going to tell me. I know I have to be patient, but it’s a difficult process, especially for someone like me, who loves to get things done now, now, and now.

Things have been less than great on other fronts. At work, the mounting frustrations of my job have really taken their toll, to the point where I find myself thinking of alternative employment options just to preserve my sanity and my health. And things at home have suddenly become uncertain, and who knows where things will end up. Suffice it to say, these are difficult times, and I hope the universe will help me achieve some clarity of mind so that I can get through them in one piece.

For now, at least, I’ve got enough creative projects to keep me preoccupied and moving forward. That’s the nice thing about music and writing. When you write—be it a song or a story—you’re in complete control. It’s all yours. And no one—not a co-worker, not a boss, not someone with a title higher up on the pecking order than yours—can tell you not to write what you want. It’s a great, liberating feeling to be able to compose a song or write a story, so I encourage anyone who’s having similar crises at work or at home to embrace whatever creative capacity they have. It really can make all the difference.

Cheers.

A new humor blog and a new pre-publication page

2009-03-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

With Inventing Vazquez ready to go, and before I get back too deep into Electing Choi, I decided to put my pitiful HTML skills to use and build a new addition to my web site.

It’s nothing fancy, but I’ve posted a dedicated Inventing Vazquez information page. On it, you’ll find a brief description of the novel, as well as brief bios on some of the major characters. I think you’ll be able to tell just how zany this story promises to be. Any suggestions for added content would be greatly appreciated in the comments section of this blog ^_^ And, oh, I’m debating the validity of putting up three sample chapters for an unpublished book. Any thoughts on that?

The other thing I’m excited about is the launch of my new blog/e-zine lite, Digital Café con Leche (Digital Coffee was my name of choice, but it was already taken).

What’s Digital Café con Leche (literal translation: coffee with milk)? It’s my new medium for humor, satire, snark, and all things irrelevant. I love writing silly, incoherent, snarky observations about everything and anything. So I finally decided to just start writing them freelance and posting them on this new blog. So far, there are only two ‘articles’ in there, but I’ll be adding more. Please feel free to stop by, have a cup of irrelevance, and leave any comments/feedback ^_^

Back into writing Electing Choi now, and slowly making the novel take shape. It’s kind of exciting to be starting a new project…and a bit daunting. Because I’ve no doubt this one’s going to be as long as Inventing Vazquez @_@ Oh well.

Still no word on a literary agent. The waiting game sure is painful ^^;

Anyway, hope you enjoy my two little additions.

Searching for a Literary Agent

2009-03-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

A fairly unambiguous title, huh?

At long last, my new novel, Inventing Vazquez, is finished. This latest rewrite is what I’m calling the agent-ready draft, one that I’m confident will properly represent the work and my capabilities as a writer to prospective agents. Can I hear a “woohoo”? ^_^

It was quite a ride getting here. I started this project in early 2007, right around the time I was scrambling to get Solstice ready for its publication. Because of all the ideas I had for Inventing Vazquez, I finished the first draft before the end of that year. Last year, I completed the next two rewrites. And now this year, I’ve gotten the novel to the point where I’m confident about sending it out for representation.

I think the most challenging part of this last rewrite was not just making the story tighter and funnier, but cutting it down as well. I’m happy to report that I’ve shaved off nearly 80 single-spaced pages, which should help the story flow smoother and quicker. It’s still a very long book (about 270,000 words ^^), but hopefully it’ll be a fun read given its zany, satirical nature. And boy, has it gotten progressively zanier with each draft! In this last draft, I’ve introduced a matchmaking dog named Preci who tries to hook her owner up with suitable mates, but always does something inappropriate (e.g., poops at their feet) to drive them away.

So far, my three test readers have given the book thumbs up. My good friend Pam, who actually read an earlier draft, liked it a lot, and my girlfriend (I know, hardly the most objective test reader, but she can be brutally honest when she needs to be) loved it. So there’s hope.

So anyway, the literary agent search is now on in earnest. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I sent out the first five queries, including one to the agent I’m crossing all my fingers accepts me ^^; Almost immediately, I got two rejection form letters (wow, that was quick), but the other three seem to still be in the “Reject Later” pile as opposed to the “REJECT NOW!!!” pile ^^;

It’s funny. I personally think searching for a literary agent is the hardest part of this entire process. Yes, even harder than writing and rewriting the actual book! Why? Because you have to present yourself nearly perfectly. You’ve got no room for error. You have to write, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, edit, scrap, restart, rewrite, rewrite, edit, pull hair, get drunk, rewrite, cry bitterly, and rewrite your query letter, synopsis, and all that other good stuff agents demand. You have to obsessively comb every line of text for errors and grammar. You have to somehow pitch your book (all 270,000 words of it) within the space of one page. You have to differentiate yourself somehow from the other 4,194,092 writers mailing query letters that same day. And you have to do it all knowing that most agents are going to respond with an impersonal form letter telling you, “Sorry, no thanks” without giving you one clue as to why.

I think that’s the most frustrating thing about this process. For all the effort you have to put into a search, you’re seldom told why you’re being rejected. Of course, I’m not criticizing literary agents for this, because the volume of correspondence they receive makes it impractical for them to individually address every rejection letter. But it does make it hard for you to know what you’re doing wrong. Is it that they didn’t like your writing? Is it just not their cup of tea? Did your query letter suck? Or did they just not like the name of your character? For the most part, you’re in the dark about why you’re being rejected, so it’s very difficult to know what to improve for the next round of queries.

But oh well, I’m going to give it my all and try to land an agent. And I’m a lot more confident about Inventing Vazquez: I really think it’ll offer an agent and a publisher something special. Oh wow, listen to me, egomaniac that I’ve become! ^^;

So what’s next? As usual, I’m going to take some time off from Inventing Vazquez before I start tinkering with it again (it’s true what they say, every work is always a work in progress). I’ll probably start up again on its sequel, Electing Choi, next week (I’m four chapters in as of now). However, because of all the ideas that are starting to build up for another story, I might try writing two books at once. My other project, tentatively titled Suicide Girls, might be my ‘nighttime’ project (i.e., the kind of project I’ll be more inspired to work on during the night, given its darker nature). We’ll see. Regardless, I’m excited to start working on a new project. Almost as excited as I am to finally say Inventing Vazquez is ready ^_^

Musically, things continue to take form. My band, The Pineapple Brigade, is starting to look like one. My fellow guitarist and I recently hooked up with a great drummer, and so now we just need a bassist and a female singer. So far, the three of us seem to have really good chemistry and compatibility, and we’re all on the same page musically. So who knows, maybe this summer, we’ll actually be able to gig. That’s my hope, anyway.

Of course, if given the choice between landing an agent or a summer gig, I wonder which I’d go with? ^^;

So please wish me luck in finding a good literary agent! I’m going to need it @_@

I write because I’m mad

2009-02-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since I updated this blog. I’ve been on a tear recently, editing around 10 pages of the new draft of Inventing Vazquez per day, and doing little else beyond it. The novel has become my life as of late, and probably will continue to be so until I finish it. Which is good, because I’m almost at page 300 of 496.

So far, I’ve succeeded in shortening the novel dramatically. I’ve already shaved about 60 single-spaced pages, in large part because I took out the infamous sex scene after two of my test readers said it just didn’t work. Both of them are women, and both said that it was the one moment in the book where you could really tell it was a man writing it. Not to mention, it was long, tedious, and, well, I’m not an erotica writer, so it was formulaic, awkward, and cheesy. So out it went. Hey, it’s 10 less pages to edit, I guess.

I’m confident I’ll have the book ready by the end of March. In the meantime, I plan to launch an agent search sometime next week.

There’s a reason why I am trying to move as fast as I can with this. You see, the novel is my snarky, satirical, humorous way of saying something not so humorous. I’m Latino, and throughout my life, I’ve had to watch as Hollywood and mainstream media have relegated Latino/as to the fringes of creative expression. When we see ourselves in film, it’s almost never a positive, dignified, or even a three-dimensional portrayal. More often than not, when you see a Latino/a in a Hollywood film, they’re a voiceless janitor, or a gang member, or a domestic servant.

We’re seldom portrayed as a strong people, unless we’re being portrayed as ruthless gang members in something like Training Day. We’re seldom portrayed with any depth or meaning. And when films do center around us, they’re in roles that are cliché, trite, and not all that flattering. I mean, seriously, is Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan the best we can hope for?

And it’s not just Latinos. It’s everyone who hasn’t found a way of making themselves heard in mainstream consciousness. Take, for example, Asian-Americans. Why is it that a movie like 21 (which is based off real events where a group of predominantly Asian-American students were involved) features a mostly white cast? Why is it that Hollywood thinks Asians can’t carry a film, and so it’s easier to cast whites in roles meant for Asians? Why is it that the new Avatar film, which is based heavily on Asian motifs and characters, is being cast with mostly white actors?

I guess I’m just getting mad at the way some of us just can’t see to get people’s attention. I mean, why is it that Miley Cyrus can do something as stupid as this chink-eye thing, and then offer nothing but a half-assed, “I’m the victim here” apology, and no one outside of Asian-American circles thinks there’s something messed up about the whole thing? (BTW, I hope Angry Asian Man doesn't mind me linking to his site. I think he's doing an amazing job of giving voice to the Asian-American community, and I admire him greatly for it.)

The truth is, some of us just haven’t done enough to make ourselves heard. Think of it this way. If Miley Cyrus had, instead, been photographed in blackface and eating watermelons, it wouldn’t just be the African-American community in an uproar. It’d be many others. And I’m sure Disney would then do a much better job of getting their little 16-year-old dimwit to apologize more convincingly (and maybe stop insinuating that we’re somehow at fault for feeling offended for her idiocy). Why? Because the African-American community has been much better at making itself heard. Because it’s been more aggressive, and better organized, and has forced mainstream American to listen to its grievances.

Of course, that’s not saying that we’re all well and dandy on the African-American front. Far from it. But at least people, no matter what race or background, now know better than to, say, start dropping the n-word. If you drop it, you know you’re willingly inviting trouble. And that, to me, proves that the African-American community has done a much better job of making itself heard than many of us.

Latinos, I think we’re just too splintered, scattered, and disorganized right now. Maybe it’s the same way with Asian-Americans, I don’t know. But I know that there’s something wrong with the way we respond to things that are offensive. Because if Miley Cyrus can do the chink-eye thing one moment, but still be fawned and drooled over because of what she wears at the Grammy’s less than a week later, then it’s obvious we haven’t made ourselves heard, or feared. It means the media and everyone else involved still can’t appreciate that this whole chink-eye thing is right on par with things like the n-word.

That’s why I’m writing Inventing Vazquez, and why I’m desperate to get it published. I’m mad at the way we don’t have much of a voice yet, and I want to help it become louder. I want to contribute to this ongoing, but maybe still quiet, dialogue between Latino/as and mainstream culture. And not just Latino/as, but anyone who’s ever felt marginalized by Hollywood and mainstream culture.

Inventing Vazquez is a satire about how Hollywood portrays people of color, and it’s about how one Latina decides she’s had enough, and finds ways of making her grievances—and those of her community—heard. While it’s humorous and zany, I hope it also relays a very serious message: that Latino/as, Asians, Indians, African-Americans, etc., all of us have to make ourselves heard. We have to make Hollywood and all realize that there are lots of us out there, and we have goals and ambitions and dreams too. And it’d be nice, for a change, to see movies where people who look like us aren’t just background fillers or voiceless criminals. It’d be nice if, one day, our kids could pretend to be something other than Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, James Bond, or any other white action hero. It’s like America Ferrerra in Ugly Betty said about Mexicans: “We don’t get action heroes. All we get is a fast rodent.”

So there you have it. My real reasons for writing Inventing Vazquez, and the reason I hope it gets published. No, I don’t hope. It will get published, even if I have to self-publish again. I just think that it carries a message that needs to be heard. Not because I think I’m so much wiser and need to impart my wisdom. No, because the book represents a voice, and if you get enough voices together speaking loudly enough, then they can’t be ignored anymore.

Yeah, I know, I’m an idealist. But what can I say? I cling to the belief that, when I finally have children, they’ll grow up in a world that’s more tolerant. Where people of different backgrounds actually talk to and listen to one another, instead of assuming things about or fearing one another. I want to believe that, when they’re old enough to see a movie, they’ll have something other than Jennifer Lopez or Dora the Explorer to feel inspired by. That they can see a movie, see a character that looks like them, and actually think, “Wow, I want to be like that person when I grow up.” That they’ll be able to see a movie without feeling secretly ashamed because they think, somehow, that all they can ever be is a janitor, or a criminal, or a busboy, or a hapless indentured servant for some rich family.

Hey, I can dream, right?

New Year, New Goals, and a Little WOOHOO Thrown In

2009-01-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009, everyone.

So, it’s a new year. And while I’m not one to make resolutions, I always like to re-affirm my long-term goals and strategies at the start of every year. Like last year, my only real goal was to finish Inventing Vazquez. Which I did. Kind of. I finished the third draft, at least.

This year, my goal will be to complete the book in earnest, and land an agent. And while I was busy thinking in December that I’d be sending out queries this month, I decided to not be so hasty. I’m working on the next round of edits right now, with the goal of not just cleaning up the writing and adding a small wrinkle or two, but of shortening the novel. Because it’s a bit too long, maybe long enough to scare off an agent.

So far, with the first five chapters I’ve edited, I’ve succeeded in knocking off a page per chapter. So if I can do that all throughout, and there are 65 chapters, that’s at least 65 pages I’ll streamline from the final draft.

My plan, though, is to make the most efficient use of my time. Because it can take so long to hear back from an agent, I think I’ll work on getting the first half of the book done, right and proper. Once that first half is done, I’ll send out the query packages, and then get to work on the second half. The hope is that, by the time an agent (hopefully) requests to see the entire manuscript, I’ll have it ready to go. That’s the hope, anyway.

But because I don’t want to take forever, this time I’m setting a very concrete deadline: I want to have the entire novel finalized by the end of March. It’ll be tight, but doable. I think that, while setting artificial deadlines can be counterproductive, in some cases they can give you the right kind of urgency. And urgency is definitely something I feel right now, in terms of getting Inventing Vazquez moving from manuscript to published work. I’m very enthused and confident about this book, and I really want to get it out there. Somehow, I think it’ll have some good things to say, and I think it’ll make people laugh a lot. I hope so, anyway ^_^;

So that’s the deal with Inventing Vazquez. Its sequel, Electing Choi, is now on hold, since I’m trying to punch out at least one chapter of edits per day, but really aiming for two. Next month, I’ll also have to start working more seriously on the query letter, synopsis, and other such agent-related goodies.

So yeah, Electing Choi is going to have to wait. One thing that won’t have to wait, though, is Liliana’s new character design ^_^ For Electing Choi, since Liliana’s character is now older, more mature, and a lot more spunky and confident, I figured she’d need a makeover from her character design from Inventing Vazquez. And so, I thought she’d need to have shorter hair, something more whimsical and playful. And my brother, ever the artist, made a chibi rendition of Liliana in her old and new incarnations:

Isn’t it adorable?! And yes, in both novels, Liliana is in a band, although she’s never the bassist (at least, I don’t think she’ll be). Like I said, this is a chibi style drawing (a Japanese Anime-style super-deformed animation), but I thought it was adorable. So, thanks, Arturo! ^_^

Speaking of bands, The Pineapple Brigade project is definitely picking up steam. The guitarist I’ve been working with (let us call him Gene for now) and I are clicking very well. So much so, we essentially laid down the foundation for an improved version of one of my songs, Frozen Summer. He’s a natural guitarist, and a very good one, and he was able to add a lead guitar track that gave the song a whole new dimension. Plus, in one of the song’s breakdowns, he improvised some backing vocal arrangements, and I was blown away at how well they worked. I was geeked, to say the absolute least.

Even more geeked about something very unexpected. I’ve always said I’m primarily a bassist. But this past practice, I took my electric guitar down to the basement, figuring I could use it to more easily show Gene the guitar notes for some of my songs. I ended up playing rhythm guitar for the entire practice. By the end of it, Gene makes a startling declaration: he thinks that, instead of playing bass in the band, I should play rhythm/lead guitar. Because what I was doing wasn’t only good enough, but it was essentially lead guitar work.

I was stunned, because while I always wanted to play guitar in a band (it’s more fun, I think, and more conducive for my onstage freestyle maniac style of play), I never thought I was good enough. A proven guitarist thinks I am. That’s good enough for me ^^;

So here I am, switching gears musically. I was planning on buying a better bass amp to start off the year, but now I’m researching new guitars, looking for one to call my own. The one I’m currently using is a loaner, a Fender strat, and I think I’ll stick with a Fender, maybe another Stratocaster, depending on what I can afford. I’m pretty excited about it.

Hopefully, Gene and I can soon find a female bassist in the Detroit area who likes punk pop, and then we’d really have the start of something very special. Because it’s part of my whole band dream thingy: to have a female musician who does backing/lead vocals, and give the band a male-female vocal dynamic. Kind of like what Kim Deal did with The Pixies, and Jeannie Lee did for Dirt Bike Annie. I think both those women added so much to those bands.

I guess, between Inventing Vazquez and The Pineapple Brigade, I have enough to keep myself busy with. Still not sure that I’ll be able to start that e-zine, but I’m not discounting the possibility yet. I still think there would be some very good benefits to doing so, especially as I ramp up my literary agent search. We’ll see, I guess.

And, oh, one last, unrelated thing. Don’t ask why, considering there was no regional sense for me rooting for them (I was born and raised in NYC) ever since I was old enough to understand football. And it made no sense that, as a kid tossing a football around, I pretended I was Neil Lomax instead of, say, Phil Simms or Richard Todd. But that’s how it worked out, and I’ve remained loyal to my team throughout all the ups and downs, but mostly downs. And every year, despite everything, I would insist, this was our year. This was the year this team surprised everyone and went all the way. And every year, I’ve had to content myself with our usual mantra of, “Wait till next year,” and look forward to Draft Day and the top pick we’d be getting that would take us to the Super Bowl next year.

Now, having said all that, please forgive this following outburst.

Ahem.

GO ARIZONA CARDINALS!!! WOOHOOO!!!! ONE MORE WIN, AND WE’RE IN THE SUPER BOWL!!! And then I can NON-facetiously say, “WOOHOO!! CARDINALS, SUPER BOWL BOUND!!! WOOO!” ^^;

I dare anyone to say I’m a bandwagon jumper. Really. Go ahead. Just try it ^_^ I’ll refer you to my friends, who regularly mocked me during fantasy football for filling my rosters with Cardinal players. Or my girlfriend, who makes fun of me for liking a team I had no regional reason for liking just because they had a cute cardinal on their helmet.

So, to the Arizona Cardinals, good luck this Sunday! No matter what happens, you’ve already made this lifelong (if incomprehensible) Cardinals fan giddy and half-insane with happiness.

GO CARDS! WOO!

Another trick to writing: Remember it’s just a draft

2008-12-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

I got to page 27 last night of Electing Choi, and I ran into my first genuine moment of, “Oh gods, this sucks!” The scene I’m currently working on has a lot going on, with a lot of characters vying for valuable screen time, and so far, I think I’ve made a mess of it. And as the first traces of frustration and self-doubt began to creep in, I decided to call it a night. Which is, I think, the best thing any of us can do whenever we come across a moment of self-doubt with regards to something we otherwise know we can do.

So this morning, as I’m prepping for work, I came across a couple of new ideas for the scene, and a new gag to throw in (remember, it’s a satirical comedy, so the funnier I can make it, the better). Just goes to show that, sometimes, you really do just need to step back, take a deep breath, and take a fresh look at things the next day.

But more importantly, it goes back to something that should be common sense among all writers, and that somehow eludes many, especially new or aspiring writers. And that is this: you’ll do yourself a great favor if you just concede that your first draft will suck. There, I said it ^_^

A first draft is called a first draft for a reason. It’s your first stab at something you hope will be great. But few things, if any, are great their first time around, and writing is hardly one of them. Even the most experienced writers, I’m sure, will write third and fourth drafts of something that are infinitely better than their first draft. Which is to say, a first draft is supposed to be bad, crappy, and lacking in detail and depth. It’s supposed to be something that makes you think, “This could work, but I gotta put a lot more work into it.” That’s what the second and third drafts are for ^_^

Like I said, this should be common sense among all of us calling ourselves writers. But it still astounds me how many aspiring writers out there get so bogged down by the notion that their first pages of their first chapter of their first ever piece of writing have to be the best writing known to man. They get mired in this perfectionist, high-pressure mindset, and when that first draft reads like a first draft (i.e., it’s terrible), they get discouraged and oftentimes stop writing for a while, if not for good. And that’s the biggest mistake anyone can make. You have to be patient with yourself, and understand that it will take time to craft something that's good, and that you can't just give up because you're not writing Shakespearean verses your first time around. Remember, it's about being kind to yourself.

With Electing Choi, I definitely hate the last five pages I wrote. But you know what? They’re a start, and when I go back and start the second draft, I’ll make them better. There’s no need for me to sulk and think, “I suck at this, I better stop because this one scene sucks so bad,” and there’s no need for me to spend the next month just trying to hammer out this one complex scene. Better to just accept that this first draft is going to be bad, move on, and keep pace with my writing goals.

So there you have it. Another kernel of five-cent wisdom from a writer who sounds like he’s figured everything out but who, in fact, doesn’t even know where he’s standing sometimes.

In other news, I’m happy to say that it looks like The Pineapple Brigade is active ^_^ I jammed with the guitarist, Eugene, on Sunday, and we definitely clicked. Not just musically, but personally, which is great. Not to mention, he knows who bands like GO!GO!7188! are, and he liked the Dirt Bike Annie stuff I gave him, so we’re definitely on the same page musically ^^; We’re still trying to figure out our approach, but we’ll start up in January and take things from there. Needless to say, I’m excited.

I also recently heard from two people regarding Solstice. One of them found me on Facebook and complimented the book, which was a such a pleasant surprise. And the other is actually an old friend whom I used to correspond with back when I used to maintain an Anime site, Senseless Solutions. It was incredible to hear from her again, and even more incredible to hear she bought the book, read it in two days, and loved it. Wow ^_^; Well, to both of you, thank you so much. You really made my day, and reminded me that, hey, the novel wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t too bad, and I sort of kind of maybe accomplished something kind of maybe perhaps nifty by self-publishing it ^_^ Or not ^^;;

But Inventing Vazquez won’t be self-published, that’s for sure. And I hope to start sending out those queries to literary agents in January. Oh wow, that’s going to be fun…

Anyway, it’s Christmas Eve, so here’s a happy holiday greeting to all of you who read this blog! May your holidays be healthy, safe, happy, and thoroughly enjoyed in the company of family and friends. May the new year bring you all the good fortune, changes, and happiness you want. And may we be always thankful for the all the good things in our lives, including the food on our plates, the roofs over our heads, and the affection of those who call themselves our friends and family. Cheers!

Agents, Sequels, and Pineapples. Oh my.

2008-12-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

So I finally burned through most of my excess vacation time, and got quite a bit done. I began the process of researching literary agents, and came up with some very promising leads. I drafted both a query letter and a six-page synopsis for Inventing Vazquez. I still have to proof the first three chapters meticulously, and have them ready to go. My plan, now, is to send out the first batch of queries in early January. And then pray really really hard to the gods and the universe that, this time, a literary agent will want to work with me.

I also started the sequel to Inventing Vazquez, Electing Choi, in earnest. In fact, I completed both chapter ones (a little joke there, thanks to the dual narratives that start the story). My goal is to have the first 30 pages of Electing Choi written by the end of December (you know, a page a day, more or less), and so far, I’m at page 15, so I’m more or less on track. And I’m really excited about this project, not just because I get to work again with Liliana and her crew, but because of the plot twists I’m looking forward to writing down.

I’m going home for the holidays, and I’ll probably get more work done there. I think I’ll focus more then on editing the samples chapters and the query literature, to make sure I’m ready to go when I come back home in January. I hope to also map out the ideas and general direction for the e-zine I want to start, and then ask my friends and bro to join in the mayhem and help me get it off the ground. Have to think more on the title, though. The one I wanted is kind of already taken ^_^;

I also had the chance to compose four new songs, three of which I still need to write lyrics for. Ugh, that’s one thing I struggle with, mostly because I never know what to sing about. Heh, ‘sing’. There’s a lie if I ever said one. The truth is, I’m getting more and more frustrated with my inability to sing well. One of my new songs, Room I-94, I did write lyrics for, and I tried singing it. And I couldn’t stand it. I really need to find a female musician/singer to do these songs. Because I find myself hating my own songs just because I kill them with my crummy vocals! ^^;

But things are looking interesting for The Pineapple Brigade. For one thing, it’s now my sole musical focus. Following all kinds of misunderstanding, I was unceremoniously dropped from the blues band I was with on Sunday. Via voicemail. Because that’s the mature way of handling such things. I was pissed for a while on Sunday, not because I’d been let go (like I always said, blues was never my thing), but because of the way it was handled. It really irritates me that people can’t seem to tell you things in person. In person, they tell you things are great, you’re great, hey, let’s stay together, we love to have you, bla bla bla. But when they decide to contradict everything they told you in person, and leave you a voicemail saying, “Yeah, I’ve hired a friend to play bass, thanks,” you realize you’re probably better off not working with them. Dear gods, what ever happened to common courtesy and manners?

Still, after blowing off some steam and leaving that guy a voicemail calling him out for his lack of professionalism, I saw things in a different light. Now I think this is the universe’s way of saying I’m supposed to be working to make The Pineapple Brigade happen. That I shouldn’t have been spending time on a musical project my heart simply wasn’t into. That now’s the time to focus back in on the music I love and want to play live. And I’ve got a great foundation to build on. I have 12 original songs ready to go. That’s enough not just for a set, but for an album. So maybe now’s the time to keep working on those songs, and some new songs, and work toward making The Pineapple Brigade more than just a ‘project’.

The other thing is that I’ve been in touch with a really cool guitarist who’s recently moved to Detroit. While we haven’t jammed yet, I have high hopes that we’ll be able to work together, now that our musical tastes are virtually identical, we’re the same age, we’re both experienced musicians, and we have the same attitude and passion toward music. If he and I decide to start The Pineapple Brigade in earnest, well, it’ll be a critical first step toward making the whole band idea come true.

So that’s what’s been going on. In other words, nothing much, really. Anywayz, stay warm, folks. And remember: you don’t win friends with salad.

The end of one project, the start of many

2008-12-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it took me longer than I thought it would, but I finished the new draft of Inventing Vazquez on Sunday. I think this version is getting close to the final one. I still need to go over it again and do another round of wordsmithing, fact checking, and tweaking, but I think the major changes are done. At least, I hope so. I’ve got two test readers this time, and I’ll be holding my breath to see what they think.

It’s an exciting time. Not only because I’m a step closer to completing Inventing Vazquez, but because I now have some time to do other things. As is my habit when finishing a draft, I’m shelving it for a month so I can look at it with fresh eyes in January. And in the meantime, I’ve got lots of free time, mostly because I have a lot of days off I have to burn through at work.

So I’m planning to do several things starting this Thursday. For starters, I’m going to start compiling a list of literary agents, and start prepping the query packages. I really hope that, with the groundwork I’ve already done with Solstice, with my web site, with the book reviews, and the on-the-side writing projects for Quiet Earth and Urban Molecule, I’ll have a better shot at landing an agent. Well, that, and I genuinely think Inventing Vazquez is a better novel with much better writing. Plus it’s funny, so at least I won’t be turning off agents with my “My novel is about the end of the world!” approach! ^_^;

I’m even more excited about the writing projects I have lined up. I have three: The Mourning Syndrome, Electing Choi (the sequel to Inventing Vazquez), and an untitled dark comedy project I’m considering. Since I can’t work on all three at the same time, what I’ll be doing is outlining each, and see which one I feel most enthusiastic about. My guess is it’ll be Electing Choi, because The Mourning Syndrome is depressing end-of-world fare, and I’ve really enjoyed the zany, free-spirited writing style of Inventing Vazquez. But the third project, a sort of road-trip narrative, has its appeal, and so I’ll map it out and see if it’s a viable project at this time. I guess, as long as I can be zany and whimsical, I’ll be happy.

So that’s all, right? Well, not really. ^_^ I’m still trying to form a punk rock band, and I might be a step closer to doing so. I’ve been in touch with a guitarist who’s moving to Detroit tomorrow, and we may jam this weekend to see if we can work together. I have high hopes, because we’re the same age and have very similar musical tastes. If we decide to start the Pineapple Brigade together, then we’ll just need a drummer and a singer, hopefully female. In the meantime, I’m still writing songs. I wrote two new songs over the past couple of weeks, deciding to just have fun and write the kind of jumpy, melodic tunes I like. Wish I could sing, but oh well, what can you do? ^_^

So that’s all, right? I mean, between researching literary agents, starting a new book (after outlining three separate projects), maybe starting a band, and writing more music, I should be pretty much booked up, right? Well, leave it to me to want to squeeze in another thing into my schedule ^_^;

While it’s still in its “I have a goofy idea” phase, I’m thinking of starting an e-zine. Something completely random, humorous, and observational. Something that’ll discuss politics, popular culture, not-so-popular culture, music, and technology. Ideally, I’d like to get together with my friends and publish regular articles, but I haven’t discussed this with anyone except my girlfriend yet. In any event, it’s still in its pre-pre-pre-planning stage, but I think it’d be something cool to do. And I think I already have a name for it. What is it? Something named after one of my favorite Polysics songs ^_^ That’s all I’ll say for now.

Anyway, December should be an interesting, fun, and busy month. And, oh, isn’t there some kind of holiday or something toward the end? ^^;

Turning 15 Again

2008-11-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

So I get to blog about something other than writing again. Hmmm, the last time I did so, it was to write about a Polysics show I went to here in Detroit. And now, it’s to write…about the Polysics show I went to this last Saturday ^_^

For those of you who don’t know, Polysics is a four-piece band from Tokyo, Japan who can best be described as Devo with a distinct infusion of Japanese quirkiness. Their music is catchy, wild, and all over the place, with synthesized blips and beeps complementing mad guitar riffs and crunching bass lines while the singer, Hayashi, sings about everything from peach pies on the beach to digital coffee.

Well, they played here in Detroit on Saturday, and I was reminded of why I fell in love with them in the first place. They are, simply put, the best live band I’ve ever seen. It’s inspiring to see musicians throw themselves so completely into their performance. Hayashi is a madman on stage, jumping all over the place, screaming his lungs out, playing his guitar like his life depends on it. Fumi, the bassist, jams along with grit and bounce, plucking away at her red Yamaha and seemingly loving every minute of it. Kayo, the keyboardist extraordinaire, is the stoic, quiet, comic one in the back, the one who never cracks a smile, not even as she’s jumping up and down waving pompoms at us during “Peach Pie On The Beach.” It’s an awesome ensemble of musicians playing a brand of music that’s infectious, powerful, and outright quirky.

So why am I gushing over Polysics like a 15-year-old after his first rock concert? Maybe because I got to meet the band this time around! ^_^ As my friend James and I sat through the opening bands, I noticed Hayashi and Kayo at their merchandise stand. After much deliberation, I finally worked up the nerve to go up and say hello, and ask if they’d take their picture with me. What cool, friendly people they were! Not only did they agree, Hayashi actually puts me in between him and Kayo. How’s that for treating your fans with respect? About all I could think to do in my star-struckness was smile like a dolt and do the peace sign. As evidenced below…

But the biggest treat was meeting Fumi, their bassist. Anyone who knows me knows that I consider her my bass-playing muse. It was watching her onstage in 2005 that made me want to pick up the bass again. It was thanks to her that I wanted to try again to join a band and gig, even though I was already 32 years old. Just over a year after that show, I joined my first band. And our first show just happened to be at the same club where I first saw Fumi and Polysics. So I’ve wanted to meet Fumi ever since then, to thank her for inspiring and re-awakening my musical ambitions, and for being my bass-playing ‘sensei’.

And, oh…I have a Michigan-sized crush on her ^___^;

So imagine my delight (and high-school-boy-like nerves) when I finally saw Fumi walking around the club, and then go over to the merchandise stand. Once again, after much, much, much deliberation, I worked up the courage, went over, and reverted to my 15-year-old persona. And once again, I wasn’t disappointed. Fumi proved to be a very friendly, very warm person, and very eager to meet another of her fans. I got a chance to thank her for inspiring me. I got her autograph. I got to shake her hand. And, oh, I got our picture taken ^_____^

Sure, I stopped just short of telling her that I think she’s pretty as hell, but hey, there was no need to. Being able to meet her and the rest of Polysics was such a treat, and it went about as perfect as I could have ever imagined. There was no need to make things weird by telling her, “Duh, I think your really perty! Yuh-huh!”

I was also reminded on Sunday and Monday that I’m no longer 21 years old. I lost myself in the moment at the show, and thrashed, danced, moshed, and headbanged throughout. On Sunday and Monday, my sore body was saying, “Yeah, nice try, moron. You’re 35, and I’m going to make sure you remember that with a good dose of pain, soreness, and old-man-like ailments.” Ouch. I don’t remember hurting so much after a show. I don’t remember ever waking up in the middle of the night and feeling like my neck would snap if I so much as sneezed. Hell, it wasn’t even soreness; it was excruciating pain. Will that stop me from headbanging and moshing the next time? Of course…not ^_^

Anyway, that’s my annual “I love Polysics” gushing. While I’m at it, I just want to mention this. Um, Jaguar Love? The second band on that night? You know, your music was actually quite good. But guys, seriously, do yourselves a favor: get another singer. Their singer doesn’t sing, but rather screeches unintelligibly. Even between songs. If Donald Duck, Courtney Love, and Axel Rose had a child, and they fed this child nothing but sugar, caffeine, and crack, it’d result in Jaguar Love’s singer. I’m sorry, guys, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but you need a singer that isn’t so damn painful!

Oh, and a special shout-out to Colleen, a wonderfully friendly woman I met at the show! Colleen, I’ll see you at the next Polysics show so we can dance and mosh once again!

Okay, let me go back to being 35 again… Going to Chicago next week to do the last bit of Inventing Vazquez related research, and to hopefully finish up the next rewrite. After that, it’s off to finding an agent. Oh boy…

The one thing you need if you’re going to be a writer

2008-10-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things I hadn’t anticipated after publishing Solstice was the number of questions I’d hear from friends and strangers alike. How do you become a writer? How do you self-publish a book? What do I need to do to become a writer?

My answers are usually anticlimactically simple, maybe because I don’t think there’s any great science to it. How do you become a writer? By writing. How do you self-publish a book? By doing the research and legwork and understanding the risks of doing so. What do you need to do to become a writer? Like I said, write. About anything and everything.

Yet, there’s one thing, at least, that I can offer up as one of those little nuggets of wisdom I’ve picked up along the way. And it’s pure cliché, but it’s really true. Are you ready? Ahem…

Have thick skin. Very thick skin. And, oh, be open-minded.

There’s no way around it. No matter what you write, and no matter how well or how poorly you write, reader responses are never going to be universal. Some people will like your work. Others will love it. And others will hate it. So there’s no need to go about trying to please everyone. That’s impossible. All you can do is write something that makes you happy, and just make sure it’s the best that you can do.

But in the end, it’s just as important to understand that even harsh, belittling words about your work can serve a purpose.

Praise is fun, make no mistake. When Solstice received those first reviews from Booklist and Library Journal, I felt like I had wings. And when James Rundle over at SciFiNow magazine left a message on this blog, telling me he’d enjoyed the book and was going to review it in their next issue, well… The day the magazine hit bookshelves, I could barely keep myself from jumping up and down in the bookstore parking lot on my way to pick up a copy. And every time I’ve gotten e-mails or have read blogs or reviews by people who enjoyed the book, it really seems to validate the process. Trust me, few things will make you feel as happy as a reader taking the time to e-mail you to say that your book really spoke to them.

But the flipside is just as potent. Few things will feel more like a punch to the stomach as a reader taking the time to write about how pathetic your book was.

I was reminded of this recently when a user wrote a few unkind words about Solstice. When you get this kind of thing, I think it’s normal to feel a full gamut of emotions, not all of them positive.

When I read this review, I felt defensive. I took offense to his comment about how Solstice had been voted Feminist SF’s top obscure novel because I’d incessantly asked friends and family to vote for it (hmmm….Feminist SF itself encouraged the authors on that final list to lobby their friends and family to vote for them, but okay, I guess I misunderstood that part). I took offense that he’d trashed the book even though he didn’t finish reading it. And while I understood his frustrations with the writing and the main character, it didn’t make it any easier to stomach.

So there I was, feeling upset, until I remembered that little nugget of wisdom I mentioned earlier: have thick skin, and be open-minded.

In this day and age, the Internet will allow anyone to voice an opinion. And I think that’s a great thing, because literary criticism shouldn’t just be in the same hands year in and year out. I think it’s great that any one of us can get online and share our thoughts about what moved us, or what angered us. The gods know I do that enough on Quiet Earth now…

So, after putting things into context, and realizing the user was entitled to his opinion, the next wave of emotions kicked in. The more constructive, open-minded ones.

Like I said, you can’t ever please everyone, and there’s no sense in trying. But what you can do is objectively examine both positive and negative critiques, and work toward improving. As with everything else, you want to keep improving at what you do regardless.

For example, one of the consistent complaints I’ve heard about Solstice is its writing style and editing, or lack thereof. Well, there’s no way I can excuse this, really. Solstice was published on a shoestring budget (with less than half of what every self-publishing guru says is typically necessary), and I couldn’t afford the services of a professional editor. My girlfriend—also a writer—and myself edited multiple drafts side by side, doing our best to clean up the narrative. Personally, I think she did a fantastic job of pointing out areas where character development could be stronger. Io’s fixation with motherhood, for example, derived from my girlfriend’s suggestion that Io needed a greater sense of loss for us to gradually sympathize with her.

Did this make Solstice the best novel it could be? Of course not. I doubt any writer will say any draft is the absolute best it could be. Trust me, months later, you’ll pick up your perfectly published book, start reading, and find new things that could have been written better. (That’s why they say every piece of writing is ALWAYS work in progress.) And I know now, from going back and reading bits of Solstice, that it really did need another rewrite. I’ve learned a lot more about writing since then, and I’m already finding all these places in the novel where the writing could have been cleaner, the prose less convoluted, the descriptions less repetitive. I almost want to rewrite it now, for the sake of making it a better version, but content myself with the knowledge that its sequel will be better.

But, Solstice was the best I could do at the time, and while I know there’s lots of room for improvement, I’ve accepted the fact that it was a first novel. I’ve a lot to learn about my craft yet, and Solstice was my first attempt. I take some comfort in the fact that, as a first novel, it still received far more praise than I could have ever imagined. By all accounts, the book exceeded expectations.

But reviews like the one I pointed out remind me that, yes, I have lots of room for improvement. And therein lies the value of even the harshest critique. Ever since I read that review, I’ve gone back to my current novel, Inventing Vazquez, with renewed purpose. I’m pushing myself harder to make sure the writing is cleaner this time. That the prose is less wordy and less pretentious. I’m trying to ensure the narrative flow isn’t just clean, but entertaining. Because the novel is almost twice as long as Solstice, and I need to make sure people will actually want to read it.

I think I’ve spouted out nothing but common sense here, but I thought it was important to share regardless. Because the fact is, all us writers are going to get killed more often than not in the realm of literary criticism. Professional book reviewers and online readers alike won’t always like our work, and some will rip into us without mercy. They don’t care that you poured your heart and soul into your work—nor should they, because just because you poured your heart and soul into something doesn’t grant it immunity. But when they do rip into your work, just remember that it’s an opinion.

Don’t take it personally, because it’s highly unlikely the person was out to get you.

Don’t get angry, because now at least you have the impetus to want to do better on your next one.

Don’t get sad, because chances are other people did like your work. And if they’ve written to tell you so, go back and read their words as a reminder that not everyone hated your work.

Don’t start thinking you’re no good, because writing is an accomplishment that no one can take away from you, and it’s an accomplishment most people will never achieve. Feel proud about what you’ve done, and just try to do better.

And above all, don’t second-guess your decisions. Don’t think, “I shouldn’t have published that book,” or, “I should have waited a bit more,” because if we waited to write that perfect draft that would please everyone, well, there’s never be any books written.

Wow, I sure sound preachy! ^^; I don’t mean to, but I guess I know there are a lot of people out there who are fearful of writing precisely because they’re afraid of the negative feedback. Yes, negative feedback is tough to swallow, but ultimately, it makes you stronger. You just have to take the good with the bad, same as everything else. And you have to find the value in everything, even the reviews that say you shouldn’t ever be allowed near a computer again.

The Pineapple Brigade is Active!

2008-09-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

At long last, I've posted three of my songs on a new MySpace page.
If you'd like to hear what my would-be band, The Pineapple Brigade, sounds like, check it out at www.myspace.com/thepineapplebrigade!

Just remember, I'm primarily a bassist. Not a guitarist. Not a drummer. And CERTAINLY not a singer! ^^; My singing is painfully bad, but it's the best I can do for now. Hopefully, I can someday get a band together, with real guitarists, and a real singer!

Until then, please don't laugh too hard!

Annie and Her Dirt Bike, Japanese Rockers, a Mousy Latina, and Pineapples

2008-09-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

Leave it to me to think that finalizing a 900+ page novel and writing for two web sites and being in a blues band and managing the sales and marketing of Solstice isn’t enough to keep myself busy with. No, apparently, I thought it’d be a bright idea to also take on the task of self-recording a pseudo-album.

But there I was, taking the last week of August and the first of September to record eight original songs and two covers using my Mac’s Garageband program, my good friend Brian’s Fender strat, my Fender bass, and some really shoddy drum work (at least until I decided to let the computer’s drum tracks do it for me) to finalize my so-called album. Oh, and some really, really bad singing on my behalf. But hey, I set it out as a goal for 2008: record the songs I’d written last year, before I forgot them or gave up on them. So there I was, doing just that.

The result was a somewhat rough mix of eclectic tunes, some of them straight-out punk rock, others more indie/alternative, and two odd covers (The Bluehearts’ “Linda Linda,” and an old Spanish song entitled “Ni Tu Ni Nadie”). I consider it a first-draft album, mostly because my guitar work is sloppy, and my vocals, well, they’re just plain bad. But at least I came up with a goofy album and band name for it! The band? The Pineapple Brigade. The album title? Pineapple Diplomacy. It makes sense. Really!

Still, my hope is to some day get a band together, and recording this proto-demo was a first step toward that. While I’m in a blues band now, my long-term goal is to form a punk/pop band to play the kind of upbeat, infectious, melodic music that I just love from bands like Dirt Bike Annie, The Snow Fairies, Deerhoof, Polysics, and GO!GO!7188! And I hope to form a band with people who just want to have fun and go nuts onstage. This isn’t about shooting for fame, fortune, or the sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll lifestyle. Certainly not at my age! ^_^ It’s about having fun, and loving the music, and occasionally putting on a crazy, energetic show at the local clubs. Because I really miss playing rock onstage, losing myself in the music, and just thrashing about like it’s no one’s business.

So sometime next week, I’ll finally be updating and setting up my MySpace page (yes, I actually have one), and uploading a few of my original songs, just for the hell of it. I hope, at some point, I can point prospective musicians toward it so they get a sense of what I like playing, and then move on from there. Because it’s so hard to find people out here in Michigan who even know who Dirt Bike Annie and GO!GO!7188! are, and I figure the best way to show them what I mean by ‘upbeat punk/pop music with a Japanese-rock flavor’ is by playing it! ^_^

Anyway, enough babbling about the Pineapple Diplomacy proto-demo.

Still plugging away with the new rewrite of Inventing Vazquez. I’m almost at the half-way point, so I’m confident that I’ll begin an agent search sometime in October or November. Recording the album really did divert a lot of time away from the book, so I’m clamping down and giving Liliana’s story the focused attention it deserves.

Still, it’s an amazingly fun and rewarding process doing this rewrite. They say that a book is always a work in progress, and working on the rewrite, I have to emphatically agree. It’s amazing how many new ideas pop out at you where you least expect them. Ideas for new jokes, quips, or more effective prose in spots you once thought were perfectly fine. I’ve stumbled into new opportunities during this rewrite, finding new spots where Liliana can demonstrate a bit more spunk and snark than her earlier draft incarnations. Although her story follows a sort of mousy-girl-finds-her-spine narrative, her actual narration was always meant to demonstrate she had a lot more brains than her early exploits suggested. Now, I think that’s finally coming out with some carefully-timed quips, sarcastic commentaries, and real-time reactions to the events unfolding before her. I guess time will tell if Liliana and I can pull it off. But I’m absolutely adoring her character, and I hope future readers will too.

Anyway, I’ll be posting my MySpace info soon, in case you want to hear some really rough punk/pop music, and some atrocious singing.

Now, I’m off to build an aircraft carrier or something.

It's official! Solstice is obscure!

2008-08-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought? Solstice was voted the Top Obscure Feminist SF Novel at Feminist SF – The Blog!

I wanted to take this chance to thank everyone who voted for my novel. Thank you so much! The surprising success Solstice has managed would never have been possible without the help and support of you, my friends, family, and readers. And a special thanks to the folks over at Feminist SF for holding this vote.

So what’s next? Well, hopefully this will give Solstice some much-needed exposure, now that things have been kind of quiet for it for a while. Regardless, I think making it to this Top 10 list will only help down the road, especially when contacting an agent regarding Inventing Vazquez.

Speaking of which, I’m about 20 percent through the next re-write, and pleased with the progress and results. I’m focusing now on making the writing as tight and descriptive as possible, and am confident I’ll have an agent-ready draft within a couple of months. That’s the hope, anyway.

Unfortunately, I seem to have a real knack for distracting myself with other fun stuff. Aside from now writing for Urban Molecule, I’ve officially joined another band. Well, it’s the same line-up I was in with last year at the blues competition, but this time we’re under a new name and a new direction. And, if that weren’t enough, I’ve finally figured out the wonders of recording music on Garageband on my Mac, and have started recording my own songs. It’s amazing what you can do with a little laptop and a $90 pre-amp… I’m really excited about this, because one of my goals for 2008 was to record my own ‘album’, and I think now I have the motivation and gear to do so. Plus, I relish the challenge of self-recording an album and playing all the instruments myself. Since I’m nowhere near as good a guitarist or drummer as I am a bassist, I’m sure it’ll sound like crap, but I’m not too worried. It’s not like I’m going to make a career out of it ^_^;

Anyway, thank you all again for helping to give Solstice this humble recognition.

Something new

2008-08-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a while back that I would start writing for a new e-zine, Urban Molecule. In case you haven’t checked out the site, you should. It’s a very hip, very edgy publication that aims to give voice to invisible artists and give exposure to art, literature, and issues we normally won’t hear about in mainstream media. The core writers are an intelligent, observant, and culturally savvy group, and all of them come from different walks of life and perspectives to bring a real diversity of thought to the publication. The editor-in-chief, Christopher De La Torre, is an astounding individual who brings his artistic and scientific backgrounds to bear, and who is working tirelessly to nurture his young but wonderful e-zine.

Which leaves me at a loss as to why I was asked to write for it ^_^; Regardless, I consider it a real honor to be able to take part in this endeavor.

Christopher asked me to write a monthly column, Verbatim, and my first piece was published in two parts yesterday and today. It’s not as hip or trendy as the rest of the zine, but it’s snarky and sarcastic and maybe just a bit volatile. I hope you’ll stop by and check them and the web site out.

Solstice is a Finalist! But we need your help!

2008-08-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

The last round of voting is underway over at Feminist SF – The Blog! And Solstice is among the final list of 24 books, from 104 nominated titles. Thanks to everyone to who voted!

But, to get Solstice to the final Top 10 Obscure SF Feminist Novels, we’ll need your help one more time! If you can head over to Feminist SF and vote one more time for Solstice, we might do it! The books are listed in no order, but Solstice is there on the poll. I hope you’ll help out one more time!

Thank you for your votes!

Pushing yourself

2008-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

As I wrote in an earlier blog entry, I was starting the next set of revisions for Inventing Vazquez. And I was moving right along, until I got some feedback from my friend, Lisa Alvarado. We had a chance to discuss the first four chapters, and her critique really opened my eyes to something I might have lost sight of along the way: sometimes you really have to push yourself to get better at what you do.

After our chat, I went back, and started noticing all these little things she’d pointed out, and realized, holy crap, this draft really needs work! And so, I restarted my edits from scratch. And I do mean scratch.

One of the things I did was ‘sit down’ with my protagonist, Liliana, and had a nice chat about her past. It’s strange that, after two drafts and 900 pages (1800 if you count the drafts separately), I hadn’t given much thought as to why Liliana is so afraid to talk. I’d attributed her problems to self-consciousness about her mousy voice. And my girlfriend, bless her heart, had been clamoring (in her own unique way) for weeks about how Liliana needed more of a reason for her fear of talking. So Liliana and I performed a bit of historical psychoanalysis. And it turns out, she didn’t have as pleasant a childhood as I initially thought.

I took a couple of days to just map out her life’s trajectory, imagining a personal history for her that involved a three-year trauma named middle school. By the end of it, I was content that Liliana not only had the necessary vulnerabilities to round out her narrative, but that she had a new complexity of character that would benefit other characters as well (especially her obnoxious big sister).

Aside from Liliana’s character, Lisa also encouraged me to improve my descriptive writing, which relied too heavily on adjectives and adverbs. “Paint a picture for the reader,” she advised me. She’s pushing me to push myself, to work harder to make a more vivid, colorful narrative to engage and immerse the reader. And I think that's the best thing about someone taking the time to critique your work: a critique isn't about inflating egos or crushing them. It's about reminding you that there's always room for improvement, and that if you really value what you do, you'll work harder to improve what you do.

I have no doubt that Inventing Vazquez is going to be an infinitely better novel thanks to the input Lisa and my girlfriend have given. Because it’s one thing to have great ideas and transcribe them on paper (or a word processor document). But it’s another thing to have caring people make you realize that you can demand more of yourself, that you can work a little harder and improve the quality of your writing to make sure you’re writing the best book you can.

Moving forward, I’m about 10 percent into the new rewrite, and confident that the next draft will be very strong. And I’m jumping with excitement about starting the sequel, Electing Choi. I haven’t done too much work on that (aside from writing a brief intro), but I know it’ll be a project that will allow me to expand upon the Inventing Vazquez storyline while taking on another issue I think is important.

I’m not sure when I’ll start looking for an agent in earnest, but I guess I should start compiling a list.

Keeping busy on multiple fronts, as usual ^_^ While I’m still trying to be a film reviewer for Quiet Earth, it looks like I’ll also be a columnist for Urban Molecule. My first column should be up soon, and I’m already working on the next one. Having recently decided that my humorous, quasi-facetious, snarky writing is the style I’m most comfortable with, I’m running with it and having lots of fun in the process. Besides, laughter is good. And the world’s a depressing enough place without me writing about ending it, huh? ^^;

And, because I really don’t have enough to do, I’ve also joined a new band with some old friends. I’ll be playing bass again for a blues band here in Detroit, so there goes any prospect of sleeping anytime soon ^___^;

Vote for Solstice ^_^

2008-07-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here’s your chance to help my little novel get on a Top 10 list! It turns out Solstice was nominated for Feminist SF’s list of Top 10 Obscure SF Feminist Novels! A poll is now open. And, because I’m encouraged to be a shameless self-promoter by all the publishing books, I’d like to ask you to go over to the Feminist SF blog and vote for Solstice!

You can check out the main contest info page here.

Why is Solstice considered a feminist SF novel? Because the lead character is Io, a Japanese-Mexican woman with a penchant for kicking butt ^_^ And her partner is Yuniko, a Japanese woman who passes her time hacking disreputable companies into the ground. And their boss is Anika, an African-American matriarch who’s as commanding as she is secretive. And the person Io after is a Lao woman named Jai Lin. So yeah, I guess you can say Solstice has its fair share of strong female characters. So much so, someone once asked me if I ever planned on writing anything featuring actual males. ^_^;

Anyway, I hope you’ll vote! I’d be much obliged!

On other fronts, today I’m officially starting the next edit/rewrite of Inventing Vazquez, but what’s got me more excited is this. I’ve decided to just go ahead and start work on its sequel, tentatively titled Electing Choi. Not only do I have a bunch of plot and subplot ideas for the sequel, but yesterday my girlfriend and I hit upon a character twist that will affect both novels. I don’t want to say what it is, but it’s a radical character change that will very positively impact one of the main characters in Inventing Vazquez. And it will create the sort of thematic subplot necessary to drive the main plot of Electing Choi. So yeah, I’m excited about it ^_^

And it that weren’t enough, I’m already contemplating a third book in the series @_@ Strange, I always thought Solstice and the Scribe vs. Editor thing would be my main franchise. Yet here I am, already thinking of a trilogy for Inventing Vazquez…

Anyway, have a great holiday weekend, everyone! Happy Fourth of July! And please remember to vote, if you think Solstice is worthy of consideration as a Top 10 Obscure Feminist SF Novel ^^;

A happy story, or an end-of-the-world story? Hmmm...

2008-06-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

So I’m a week or so away from re-starting work on Inventing Vazquez, and beginning what I hope will be the last round of edits before launching an all-out search for a literary agent. I hope to be done within two or three months, after which I’ll start on my new writing project in earnest. What is that project? Great question…

The idea was to start work on my next post-apocalyptic novel, The Mourning Syndrome. But alas, after reading Sister Chicas and grappling with the question of where I want my writing career to go, here I am, contemplating a completely different direction. More specifically, I’m giving very serious thought to forgoing The Mourning Syndrome and starting on…the follow-up to Inventing Vazquez. Not only because I think there are more stories to be told with that group of characters, but because of the timing. See, Inventing Vazquez is a comedic satire about Latino/a representations in Hollywood. But in light of all the things I’ve seen and read and heard over the course of this electoral year, the idea surfaced: why not do a political satire next? And so, I’ve laid out some ideas on a sequel to Inventing Vazquez, which would address the issue of Latino/as and Asian-Americans within the political landscape.

Like I said, the timing might be the deciding factor here. I figure, by the time I finish writing the sequel and getting it published, it might be around the next electoral year, and so it’d be relevant.

Which leads me back to my dilemma about what I want to write. For the longest time, I envisioned myself as a sci-fi/horror writer, which explains Solstice ^_^ Sci-fi and horror are what made me want to write in the first place. But after having written Inventing Vazquez, and realizing I wanted to write more stuff like it, I’m facing the prospects of having to pick one or the other because I don’t have time to pursue both. Dang it, I need more hours in my day… Regardless, I’ll keep writing. No sense in not writing anything just because I can’t decide what to write next.

Speaking of writing, I’m about to create a new way for readers to purchase copies of Solstice directly from my publishing house. One of the things I’ve heard from numerous people is that they didn’t feel comfortable purchasing the book directly from my site because, well, it’s not exactly amazon.com ^_^ So I’m going to put my book on sale at ebay soon, to give you that added bit of consumer protection. I’m not sure yet if I’ll use my existing ebay account with the 100% positive feedback, or create a new one for the TMP name alone. Regardless, I’ll post it on this blog and on my site. What’s more, because I’m really hoping to generate more sales, I’m going to start selling Solstice at a reduced price. So if you’re contemplating buying a copy of Solstice, stay tuned, because I should have this up and running by this weekend. Why buy direct? Well, you’d get an autographed copy, free shipping, and the assurance that you’re helping out the little guy ^__^

Because I don’t already have enough things going on in my life (you know, working full-time, editing a novel, starting a new one, writing for Quiet Earth, promoting Solstice, playing/killing my drum set, getting ready to record a death metal album with my friend James, and, oh, planning on cleaning my gutters), it looks like I’m going to start writing for Urban Molecule. By the looks of it, I’ll have a monthly column on the fifth of each month, so hopefully you’ll stop by and read. I’m really excited about this, because, needless to say, I’ve never had a monthly column ^__^ What am I going to write about? Um………..yes.

Oh, one final note. I wanted to say congratulations to the five winners of the free Solstice copies in the contest I recently held. Congratulations to Amir, Robert, Oliver, Graham, and Jessica on their winning responses. Thank you for taking part in my first ever contest! Hopefully there will be another one at a later date.

Thanks for reading!

Win a free copy of Solstice!

2008-06-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I finally launched my long-delayed contest. If you’d like to win one of five free autographed copies of my novel, Solstice, just visit my site! All you need to do is answer five easy questions!

Hurry! At this price (free), quantities (five) won’t last! ^_^

Feminism, Distribution, Contests, and a Book Review of Sister Chicas

2008-06-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Try saying that three times fast…

Anyway, this promises to be a long blog entry, so if you need a snack, now might be a good time to get one.

So what’s going on? Well, some good news: At long last, I finished my new draft of Inventing Vazquez! ^_^ And what’s the best way of making an 850 page novel better? Push it closer to 900 pages! Eep… And while it’ll still need another rewrite before its ready, I do think it’s a lot stronger. I’m hoping my two new test readers will agree. So now that I’m done with that, I’m taking the next two weeks off from working on it, to clear my mind, and get through my long list of to-do’s. And one of the first things on that list was…update my blog ^^

So something interesting materialized in the world of Solstice. A reader over on goodreads.com gave Solstice a good review, but had some very interesting things to say about the book’s feminist take. For example, she wrote: “I appreciate the rage that animates the book's central character, Itztli Okami, but the manner in which her anger is made manifest troubled me. Io's rage is born from structural violence and intense personal tragedies, but the novel introduces her rage through the trope of rape. Must a woman of color come into focus through violation?” (Quoted with permission.)

This was something I hadn’t considered during the writing process. I’ve always considered myself a feminist (part of the reason why all my main characters have, so far, been strong women), and yet, here was a reader pointing out that the book’s opening rape scene in a sense disempowers Io’s anger. I’d intended the opening to represent an inversion of the rape scenario—really, it’s Io who is out to bait and master her would-be rapists. But in expressing her rage by simply inverting the moment of violation, is Io grounded within the context of victimhood, albeit an inverted one? Is victimhood the only way I was able to define Io? It’s a troubling idea, for sure.

This is one of the things I love about writing. When someone takes the time to write a thoughtful critique of your work, and when you get the chance to discuss it with them (as I’ve been fortunate enough to do so with this reader), you really learn some things, even things you thought you already knew. In this case, I thought the book was fairly feminist, but in discussing the matter with this reader, I realized I have a ways to go. As a guy writing feminist texts, I think it’s hard for me to sometimes fully understand things from a woman’s perspective. Things that I think are empowering to a female character might not seem to an actual woman. And considering Inventing Vazquez is a first-person narration as told by a woman, I’m guessing it’s a problem that will re-appear ^^;; So I’m glad this reader took the time to spell this out, because it’s forced me, once again, to try and be a better writer and think my ideas through more carefully.

Speaking of feminism in Solstice, right on the heels of this reader’s review, I found out that Solstice was nominated by a couple of people at the Feminist SF blog for one of the top 10 obscure feminist SF novels ^_^ Wow… Well, at very least, I can say the book was nominated for something like that before it was nominated for, say, top 10 worst novels of all time. But it’s still such a thrill and very humbling to think that some people thought the book was good enough, both as a story and a feminist text, to nominate.

Okay, so what else has been going on? Well, I nearly lost my mind this past week with my distributor. Ever since my old distributor got bought out by my current distributor, it has been a nightmare. The thing is, the acquisition couldn’t have come at a worse time, because this was when the returns were scheduled to start coming in, and boy, did they start coming in -_-; So now, my old distributor was receiving the returns, and holding on to a good chunk of money that was meant to refund these returns…but my new distributor was apparently paying off these refunds themselves…and charging them directly to me. It’s taken weeks of e-mails, non-returned phone calls, and general frustration over the utter lack of communication between parties for this matter to (apparently) be resolved. And I say that hesitantly, because I assumed the matter was resolved last month when my old distributor assured me that a check had been cut to cover my outstanding balance with the new one. And, come June, I get a note that I’m 60 days past due on my $1,000+ debt, and I’m basically, WTF? So if, after all this, I get another past due notice in July, I’m just going to scream. It wouldn’t be nearly as bad if the people hounding me for this money would at least have the courtesy of calling me directly, as I’ve asked them to do. Alas, no one seems to know what a phone is anymore these days. Anyway, that’s my rant about the current distribution drama. This whole problem is one more reason why, for Inventing Vazquez, I better find an agent and forgo self-publishing.

Okay, next item: a contest! One of my to-do items for the next week is updating my web site. I want to create a small contest through my web site and Quiet Earth, so please make sure to keep an eye on both sites. What’s the contest? Not sure yet, but probably some silly quiz on frivolous things, like zombies ^^; What’s the prize? I’m going to give out five free autographed copies of Solstice! So if you’re in the market for a copy of the book, but don’t want to shell out the cash for it (which you should, by the way, cos, you know…um…it’s what Frodo would have wanted), stop by either my web site or Quiet Earth to learn more. I should have that up and running by the end of the weekend.

And finally, because this blog entry isn’t long enough, I thought I’d include a book review. ^_^ One of my main to-do’s was finishing Sister Chicas, a novel written by my friend Lisa Alvarado, Ann Hagman Cardinal, and Jane Alberdeston Coralin. Well, I finally finished it, and loved it. And I decided to write a review of it. Which may or may not be a good thing, considering how I’m still kind of learning to do reviews over at Quiet Earth. But the short of it is, if you’re looking for a good read, and a wonderfully inspired glimpse into the life of young Latinas, give Sister Chicas a look. Anyway, without further ado…

My humble review of Sister Chicas

There’s a moment early in Sister Chicas where Graciela, the oldest of three closely knit Latinas calling themselves the Sister Chicas, has just been invited to a prestigious writing retreat. Always the responsible one—the one who juggles college classes, a part-time job at a Pilsen bookstore, tutoring, and being the model daughter for her loving parents—Graciela reacts to the invite with a mixture of surprise, joy, and guilt. Mostly guilt. Because in her mind, writing is a pastime, a divertido (an enjoyment). It’s not something a hard-working Latina intent on helping her people should waste her time with.

This moment had a lot of resonance for me, as a writer and as a Latino. Partly because I think most writers, at one point or another, ponder and brood over the social relevance of their chosen profession. But mostly because Graciela’s brief crisis of faith goes to the very heart of what it means to be a writer, especially a writer of color. Like her friend Don Ramiro helps her realize, writing isn’t just an enjoyment, because writing results in books. “Books that challenge and inspire, books that stir hearts and minds,” Graciela reflects. And such it is with Sister Chicas, an inspiring and insightful novel written by Lisa Alvarado, Ann Hagman Cardinal, and Jane Alberdeston Coralin.

Sister Chicas centers around an upcoming quienceañera (the Latin-American Sweet 16, a coming of age party for girls reaching their 15th birthday). The 15-year-old-to-be is Taina, a shy Puerto Rican girl being raised by her somewhat demanding single mom. Fortunately for Taina, she has two sisters—her non-biological Sister Chicas. There’s Graciela, the aforementioned no-nonsense Chicana and unofficial mother figure of the group. And there’s Leni, the ‘middle child’ among them, a half Puerto Rican girl who parades in full punk regalia, including orange/green/burgundy colored spiked hair. The three call themselves the Sister Chicas because of their strong sister-like bond, cemented every week over a warm café con leche at a little café called El Rinconcito de Sabor.

Good thing they’re close, too. Because the mousy Taina doesn’t even want a quienceañera, and needs her sisters to confront and get through that whole coming-of-age thing. And, as it turns out, she’s not the only one needing help in facing a daunting life change. Graciela, whose tireless dedication to her community borders on self-martyrdom, has to overcome her guilt and embrace the possibility that being a good writer and being a good Chicana aren’t mutually exclusive. Leni, partially alienated from her Puerto Rican roots, faces the challenge of reconnecting with them, no small feat given her full immersion in American punk counter-culture. Add to all of this their respective struggles with finding love—or more precisely, admitting that they’ve found love with their respective others, Yusef, Jack, and Carlos—and, well, these girls certainly have their work cut out for them.

And so, the novel takes on these many challenges through three separate but interwoven first-person narratives. Taina, Graciela, and Leni take turns telling their parts of the story, and each of their voices proves appropriately distinct. Taina, the mousy 14-year-old poet, speaks with the insecurity and wonder of a girl who has yet to find her own voice, especially when it comes to contradicting her mother (which she typically doesn’t). Graciela, the 19-year-old aspiring writer, maintains a façade of big-sister control even as she struggles with her own internal conflicts, and her introspective writing reflects this. And Leni, the 17-year-old punk girl, is the most in-your-face and funniest of the three narrators, and certainly the most cynical and least forgiving, even with herself.

These three distinct but similar girls are the Sister Chicas, and their story of mutual support on their way to the quienceañera is compelling and heart-warming. Considering the collaborative nature of this novel, I think Alvarado, Cardinal, and Coralin did an amazing job of creating a cohesive narrative out of three separate perspectives. Each part of the story flows into the next seamlessly, reflecting just how strongly interwoven the lives of these three characters really are. And the affection the girls share with one another seems well-conceived, sincere, and inviting. To the point where I find myself wanting the three authors to craft a prequel and share the story of how these three girls became the Sister Chicas over weekly coffee at El Rinconcito.

The segmented nature of the narrative did expose it to one problem. Each girl faces a crisis—both a coming-of-age crisis, and a love crisis. And while Taina’s crises seem the most consistent and central to the book, some of the other crises—including Graciela and Leni’s struggles to admit their feelings regarding their significant others—seem less so. Indeed, there’s almost a sense that a few of these later crises are added in to balance things out and give each girl their requisite suffering. And if the novel had been longer and been able to dedicate more time to each, this wouldn’t have been an issue. But the tense drama surrounding many of their challenges—Taina’s confrontation with her mom, Graciela’s confrontation with her dad, and Leni’s confrontation with her own sense of cultural displacement—seem to find quick, rushed resolution. More than once, as I reached the big moment of resolution expecting a drawn-out scene, the characters reached agreement quickly, almost painlessly. To the point where you almost want to tell these girls, “See? All that worrying, and your mom/dad/culture didn’t even put up that much of a fuss!”

And then there’s the liberal sprinkling of Spanish throughout the text. Now, granted, I’m a native Spanish speaker, and so the numerous interjections of Spanish phrases and words in the middle of English sentences didn’t slow me down. But I have to imagine what reading this book would seem like to a non-Spanish speaker. I think the repeated mixing of Spanish and English can be very demanding to someone who doesn’t understand Spanish, even with the help of the glossary of terms generously provided at the end. And as such, I think it makes the book less accessible to non-Spanish speaking readers.

Which is a pity, because Sister Chicas is a book that should speak to everyone, not just Latino/as. As a slice of the Latino/a experience in the United States (or Chicago, where the book takes place), Sister Chicas doesn’t speak with the didactic authority of a text claiming a uniquely authentic cultural insight (i.e., ‘This is what we Latinas are really like!’). Rather, it speaks softly but stirringly from the heart, engaging us with its touching story about three close friends with the earnest simplicity of a casual chat over at El Rinconcito. It presents an interwoven anecdote about three separate lives converging at a critical moment, and gives us poignant glimpses along the way of things from a Latino/a perspective. And so, the novel allows moments such as this: Leni at the quienceañera, feeling as if the whole thing is one big reality TV show, “Survivor Quienceañera! Three girls, three pairs of dyed-to-match high-heeled shoes, and eight dozen gawking relatives…at the end, who will be left standing?” Clever moments like this, where mainstream imagery is re-invented from a Latino/a perspective, demonstrate how the authors have effectively navigated the treacherous path between two very different but convergent worlds.

For Latino/a readers, Sister Chicas should resonate wonderfully. Because the things and people we have experienced are present in this book in one way or another. At least, I found myself nodding and laughing throughout, recalling instances in my life that rang eerily similar to some in the book, recalling people that seemed straight out of its pages. The portrayals aren’t necessarily representative (indeed, what is representative of an entire group of people as diverse as Latinos/as?), but they are real, and they speak to the vastness and diversity of our shared experience. And so, we meet versions of Latino/as that we haven’t seen too much elsewhere: the timid poet; the aspiring writer; the spiky-haired punk; the rock guitarist.

Which brings me back to Graciela’s insight about books being challenging, inspiring, stirring both hearts and minds. Sister Chicas may not be perfect (what book is?), but it is a wonderful, and necessary, addition to the literary canon, and certainly required reading for any children I might some day have. Because it paints an inspired portrait of the Latino/a experience without being preachy about it. It portrays our strengths, our struggles, and our flaws. And it answers its own questions about the validity of writing, not just as a divertido, but as an inspiration. Because we all have stories to tell, even if we’re not all writers. And it’s time we started telling them.

The best advice? Be kind to yourself…

2008-05-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

It’s funny. Yesterday, I started a blog entry before I finally stopped and decided, “today’s not a good day to blog.” Mostly because yesterday was one of those days. We all have them. One of those days when you feel overwhelmed by everything that’s going on in your hectic life, by everything that still needs to get done, and by the feeling that the things you’re working on (e.g., a 900-page novel ^^;) are never going to get done. So yeah, I’m glad I didn’t finish that long rant of a blog entry.

This morning I just found myself feeling much more grateful about things. I mean, yesterday, I was stressing about the fact that my distributor was receiving a steady trickle of returns for Solstice. Today, I realized, “hey, we accomplished quite a bit, all things considered.” I thought about all the people at work who bought copies, not because they were avid sci-fi readers, but because they wanted to show their support. I thought about the folks like Lisa Alvarado and James Rundle over at SciFiNow magazine who took the time to read and review the book, even though they had absolutely no obligation of doing so. And I thought about all the things that have happened as a result of publishing the novel: like becoming a regular contributor for and part of something as cool as Quiet Earth, being mentioned in my alma mater’s quarterly magazine (SUNY at Buffalo, in case you were wondering), and getting back in touch with my great friend Jim from college, who tracked me down through my web site ^_^ All in all, today I realized this whole experience has been a blessing, and so I shouldn’t ever feel like it’s overwhelming or in any way, shape, or form, bad.

But I guess I also thought of a little something someone said at grad school orientation. I don’t remember his name, unfortunately, but a grad student gave us incoming students this one piece of advice to get us through our careers: be kind to yourself. He said that the best way to cope with the stress of grad school was to always be kind to yourself. It’s something I’ve both embraced, and forgotten, as the years went by. But it really is true; you have to be kind to yourself.

You have to treat yourself well. You have to indulge yourself every now and then. You have to forgive yourself if you miss a deadline. You have to refrain from beating yourself up if you can’t seem to get through that ever-growing to-do list. You have to allow yourself to take a night off every now and then, even if it means falling a bit behind on something. You have to allow yourself to just sit back and relax without feeling like you’re being an unproductive slob. You have to accept that some things will require more time and extra work, and it’s not because you suck at what you do. You get the idea.

I had to remind myself of that whole ‘be kind to yourself’ thing as I continued to work through the rewrite of my new novel, Inventing Vazquez. There were a couple of instances these past few months where I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the endeavor. There were two instances in which I genuinely felt like I was never going to finish the book. And when I made artificial deadlines for myself (i.e., “I have to have the rewrite done by mid-May”), it just compounded the sense of despair.

But what did that grad student say? Be kind to yourself. And so, I reminded myself that, hey, it’s better to take the time to make the rewrite as good as it can be, than to rush through it for the sake of meeting a self-imposed deadline and writing crap. And hey, why am I beating myself up? The novel is turning out a lot stronger because of the time I’m taking to rewrite it, so I’m doing something right! And, hey, the sooner I start being kind to myself, the sooner I’ll stop having conversations with myself!

I think writers, especially young and aspiring writers, have to be especially kind to themselves. Writing is such a labor of love, and it requires so much perseverance and discipline. But above all, it requires acceptance that not everything you write will be good, especially the first time around. I know people who get discouraged because they start their novels, get a few pages in, hate what they wrote, and decide they’re no good. But that’s the point where you need to be kindest to yourself. That’s when you should say to yourself, “you know what? This is a first draft, so it’s okay if it’s crap, I’ll fix it later,” and then just keep plugging away.

Wow, this is a really preachy blog entry! @_@

Anyway, I’m really happy with how the rewrite of Inventing Vazquez is going. The new draft is a lot funnier, I think, and the character development for some of its major characters is a lot stronger. I’m about 50 pages away from completing the draft, although I still need to go back and change one of the earlier chapters. Oh, and…um…rewrite…the…sex scene. Ahem. But regardless, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I’m really looking forward to getting a couple of new test readers for it, too. Including my crazy girlfriend, whose input and feedback is always so amazingly helpful and insightful. The gods know she really helped Solstice become what it eventually became.

Anyway, I’m babbling. Just wanted to say ‘thank you’ again to everyone who read Solstice! And remember to get your father a copy of Solstice for Father’s Day. Because nothing says “Dad, you’re the best!” better than a book about the end of the world! ^^;

Chicago, Cloverfield…and Carrots

2008-04-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry, trying to go for some alliteration there…

So it’s an exciting weekend coming up. My girlfriend and I are going to Chicago for many fun reasons. We’re primarily going to see Margaret Cho at the State Theater. We’re both huge fans of her. Not to mention, one of the main characters in Inventing Vazquez is inspired by her ^^; So we’re both really excited about that.

Another big part of this trip is research. Yep, since Inventing Vazquez takes place in Chicago, we’re going to be doing some onsite research to figure some of the book’s details. We’ll be looking at neighborhoods, for example, where some of the characters live, and we’ll be going to the Navy Pier to map out the novel’s big chase scene. Yes, a chase scene ^_^; Really looking forward to going to the Pilsen neighborhood, too, and seeing the National Museum of Mexican Art.

But perhaps best of all, we’ll be meeting Lisa Alvarado, author of Sister Chicas and regular contributor to La Bloga. You might remember that she wrote a wonderful review of Solstice a while back. Well, I wanted to meet up with her to thank her for her review, and just touch base with a fellow Latina writer. So I’m really looking forward to that…and getting her to sign my copy of Sister Chicas ^_^;

So what else is up? Inventing Vazquez is coming along. I now have less than 150 pages to go before the next draft is done, and I’m pleased with the results so far. The rewrite is definitely funnier this time around, as well as more profane. Ugh, that’s one thing about this novel: it will NOT be for anyone who can’t stand profanity or vulgarity. Maybe it’s a bit too profane thanks to the antics of this one character, but time will tell whether that’s a detriment or not. I figure I’ll start looking for an agent by the end of May, but we’ll see, I guess.

So what else is going on? Nothing much. Cloverfield finally came out on DVD yesterday, and of course, I had to buy a copy. How do I feel about that movie? Pretty much the same way I felt when I reviewed it for Quiet Earth ^_^; Loved it, and it’s probably my favorite monster movie of all time. It won’t be for everyone, obviously, but I think there’s just something so H.P. Lovecraft about the way the film hides the monster from view throughout most of the film. And I think the film’s portrayal of the military struggle against it is the grittiest I’ve ever seen. There’s no dramatic score to augment the tension, no heroic guns-blazing charge by some super-soldier, no cheesy model planes and tanks taking pot shots at the creature. The military struggle is scattered, desperate, and appropriately futile.

So that’s what’s going on right now. Chicago. Inventing Vazquez. Cloverfield. And, hopefully, new laminate hardwood flooring for my study soon, because I ripped out the carpet only to find that the existing hardwoods were in crappy condition. ^_^;

And, oh, remember to buy Solstice. It’s what Frodo would have wanted…

Thoughts on Solstice…and a first bad review!

2008-04-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

So for a while, it was looking like I wasn’t going to have distribution for Solstice anymore. Ever since Bookmasters bought out Biblio, the transition to the new distributor has been anything but seamless. Most troubling of all was an invoice issue that involved some returns from Borders. The new distributor wanted to charge me directly for the returns, even though Biblio maintained a reserve fund specifically for that purpose. Anyway, after talking to the main account person this morning, the issue was resolved, so now things are cool. I hope they stay that way. I was dreading having to handle all distribution and fulfillment by myself.

Still, it was an encouraging phone call this morning. The account person from Biblio remarked on how strong our sales of Solstice were. And, more importantly, how few returns we actually had. I could tell from his tone of voice that he genuinely believed the novel did very well. So much so he asked if there were other projects on the horizon. Alas, there are none; I’m thinking at this point that I will go agent-or-bust with the next novel, so maybe Solstice will end up being my only self-published venture.

Still, his comments re-affirmed my belief that the book was, by all accounts, a small success. More than 1,400 copies sold in less than six months, five premier reviews, two book signings, one book expo, and two interviews. ^_^ Not too shabby for a publishing project as poorly funded as this one was ^^; I got lucky, I suppose. And luckier still that I have such supportive family and friends.

Speaking of reviews, Solstice got another one! Only this one was…well…not so positive. ^_^; A new online publication, Speakerphone Magazine, gave the book a bad review. Not just bad; outright nasty. Which makes it really difficult to understand and process their critique since it was more destructive than constructive. I mean, anytime you’re talking about how it’s a fast read because you want to get past it and go on to something good, well…that’s not exactly the most constructive, or professional, thing you can say as a reviewer.

I don’t know. As a reviewer for Quiet Earth now, I try to abide by a couple of basic rules that I used throughout my teaching years. Rule number 1: Always have something positive to say. Even if the thing you’re reviewing is the worst thing you’ve ever seen, have at least one positive thing to say. Because even the worst things will have at least one good thing going for it, something the author/director/student can build upon for future works. And because it shows a basic sense of respect for the person you’re critiquing. Rule number 2: Always back up your claims. If you’re going to argue that something doesn’t make sense or something simply doesn’t work, explain and demonstrate why. Don’t just say, “this sucks” and leave it to the reader to guess why.

I think that’s what bugs me the most about this review. I know Solstice wasn’t going to be for everyone. And like anything else, some people are going to love the book, and others are going to hate it. That’s the way it is with any creative work, and no serious writer is foolish enough to expect everyone is going to adore their work. But this review, well, their main issue was that the storyline was predictable and the same old end-of-the-world stuff. Well, um…yeah! ^_^ That’s why it’s listed on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and libraries and everywhere else as apocalyptic fiction ^^; Their next big gripe was my use of metaphors, which they say didn’t complement the ‘choppy’ writing style. Apparently, my bad use of metaphors only served to make the book sound pretentious and smarter than it actually was ^_^; Well, what would have been nice is if the reviewer had bothered throwing in an example or two to demonstrate this. If nothing else, it would certainly help me see what they meant, and work on improving that problem for subsequent works. But alas, there are no examples, just a vague blanket statement about bad metaphors. Which were apparently bad enough to scuttle the entire book ^_^

I guess you can say they said something positive about the book: that it wasn’t the worst book ever written! So I got that going for me at least, which is nice ^_^;

Well, enough venting. It was just kind of odd to see people being so nasty and trashing the book without giving any real or constructive insight as to how they thought it could have been better.

Anyway, I’m happy to report that the rewrite of Inventing Vazquez is now more than halfway done. Which means I should have the draft ready by the middle or end of May. I have to admit, I am really enjoying writing this novel far more than Solstice, because it’s so much fun to write comedy. What this means in terms of my long-term writing career I still don’t know, but I think I did hit upon one thing at least. I seem to have a better time writing in the first person. I think it makes the characters seem more real, more introspective, and a lot easier to get to know.

Finding an agent will be a challenge. More so, probably, because Solstice was sci-fi, and this is going to be comedy. I hope I haven’t dug too deep a hole for myself ^^; But hey, that’s not going to stop me!

Anyway, remember to pick up your copy of Solstice for the kids ^^; Solstice is…um…a bright…breath of fresh air…in the…sordid silence…of swamphood!

The Last Person In the World…or the Silliest?

2008-03-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, the joys of enjoying things that don’t necessarily go together. Like apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic goodness…and humor.

I finally watched I Am Legend this week, and despite my general agreement with the critics that the third act is weaker than the rest of the film, I still loved it. Will Smith proves, once again, that he alone can carry a film. And for any fan of post-apocalyptic imagery and survival narratives, wow, the film is solid gold. In particular, I really love the first act, where we see his daily routines, and where we share his dread of night. I love the scene where he’s bathing his dog, Sam, and his alarm goes off. The fear that paralyzes him carries through nicely into the next scene, where he’s lying in the bathtub, rifle in hand, hearing the howls and screams of the infected running around outside his house. Totally creepy…

Having watched I Am Legend, as well as the original Shutter (a Thai horror flick that’s as good as any of the best J- and K-horror films out there), I’m reminded of why I wrote Solstice in the first place. My love of all things post-apocalyptic, as well as my fascination with horror and the supernatural, have had such a huge influence on the way I write and the things I write. Throughout the years, I always felt that there weren’t enough good movies or books about the end of the world. I always wanted more, and I wanted stories that fused together both sci-fi and horror elements. So I guess Solstice was my first stab at trying to add to the post-apocalyptic cannon. Wow, that sounds pretentious… Anyway, it’s also why I want to continue writing uplifting stories about the end of the world, such as The Mourning Syndrome ^_^ It’s just a lot of fun for me to sit down, envision these terrible survival scenarios, and playing them out on paper (actually, on a word processor).

There’s only one problem. I also love to laugh. As I continue to work on the next draft of my new novel, Inventing Vazquez, I’m reminded of how much fun it is to write comedy. And make no mistake, Inventing Vazquez is a comedic satire, and a very funny one according to my first two test readers, one of whom claims she nearly died laughing on the bus during this one scene. My humor tends to gravitate toward the zany, borrowing comedic elements from a wide range of influences, including The Simpsons, Monty Python, Margaret Cho, and the Coen brothers. So writing humor tends to be just as enjoyable for me as writing dreary, somber fiction about the end of the world. Probably more so, because it’s a more free-spirited writing style. Like you’re releasing your literary id or something.

So as I’m working on Inventing Vazquez, I’m already thinking of expanding the story into a sequel. In fact, if this first book is addressing the representation of Latino/as in movies, I’ve already thought that a possible sequel could involve politics. Which sounds great and all. Especially since I really love the group of characters I’m working with, and would love to continue to work with them.

This is where things get confusing for me as a writer. I want to tell very different kinds of stories. On the one hand, every time I watch a movie like I Am Legend (and there’s a slew of post-apocalyptic films coming out in the next several months), I’m inspired to write stories like it. And with The Mourning Syndrome, I definitely have a story that will again combine my favorite elements—sci-fi, apocalyptic fiction, and supernatural horror. In some ways, The Mourning Syndrome will probably be darker than Solstice…if that’s possible ^^;

But then, when I start thinking on the comedic possibilities of the Inventing Vazquez storyline, I want to keep writing that. Having had so much fun writing Liliana’s story, it’s like, I want to keep doing so. And I guess I like making people laugh. Humor tends to be my expressive model of choice (even at work, my best pieces have been the ones where I’ve been allowed to be humorous), and so it seems to flow more naturally out of me.

What to do? Who knows. In an ideal world, I’d quit my job and dedicate myself to writing full-time, using the day to write my comedies, and the night to write my apocalyptic stories. But alas, that isn’t going to happen. Not unless I win the lottery. Which would be doubly miraculous considering I don’t even play the lottery! ^^;

Still, there’s this one story I have in the back of my head, one that might be a nice way of reconciling the chasm between my writing preferences. There’s a story on the drawing board that would be sort of a comedic take on apocalyptic fiction, a story that would spoof all of us that go gaga every time something like I Am Legend hits the screens. I’ve thought of several possible scenes, and think it’s a promising enough idea to pursue sometime soon.

I guess it’s just frustrating, though. Ideas, I have plenty. My novel queue is already log jammed. Inspiration, I have lots of. The only thing I don’t have is time. And an agent ^^; Oh well, just gotta keep plugging away.

I gotta think of new ways to market Solstice. I feel like I’m missing a golden opportunity here to promote the book. The commercial success of films like I Am Legend shows that the post-apocalyptic crowd is alive and well. The fact that Hollywood is making more and more such films is a sign that it’s become trendy again. So here I am, sitting on a novel that will appeal to readers of sci-fi, apocalyptic, and post-apocalyptic fiction…and struggling to get the word out. I better get on it before this stuff goes out of style again ^_^

Hmmm, one thing I’m going to venture to ask you, kind readers. If you’ve purchased and read Solstice, would you be willing to talk about it online? It can be on a blog, or through a user review on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com, or even on something like goodreads.com or librarything.com. Any way you choose, it’s a great way to help spread the word about Solstice. Because in the absence of a marketing budget, word of mouth is our most effective marketing tool. I’d be deeply appreciative if you’d be willing to do that. Hey, if nothing else, you’d be supporting ‘the little guy’ ^^;

Okay, I’m going to shut up now. ^_^;

A new (and narcissistic) way to promote the book!

2008-03-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know I’ve neglected this blog. And my friends. And my family. And my e-mail contacts (gomenasai, Tsubashi-san!). And everything. But I hope things get better now. That’s because I’ve completed the first step of my new wave of marketing for Solstice. What is it? My own personal web site ^^;

Yep. I’ve taken the plunge into narcissism and created my own web site, ulisessilva.com. Normally, this isn’t the kind of thing I’d want to do. I’m too low-key a person to have ever envisioned a url based on my name. But alas, every book marketing book says that an author site is a must. So there you have it.

Building the thing was a nightmare. It’s been years since I designed and built my own web site, and over the past week or so, I was reminded of why I stopped doing so in the first place. It’s a long and tedious process. Very. Very tedious. Creating all the graphics took me the better part of last week. Actually building the site and its many components took virtually the entire weekend. But it’s done, at least. Yay. So if you’d like to stop by and learn a bit more about yours truly, please stop by! The URL is…well…www.ulisessilva.com. ^_^;

I’m especially happy now that I finally got that done. Because now I’m free to return to Inventing Vazquez. It’s been weeks since I finished the first round of edits, and I’m itching to get started anew and improve upon the first draft. And I hope to start an agent search in earnest by the end of April.

So that’s it for now. This week I’ll also be working on a new promo banner for Solstice, because my friend Don over at Quiet Earth let me know of a cool banner exchange program that will help me promote the book on other sites. For free. Which is kind of nice given my still-non-existent marketing budget ^_^; But hey, we do what we can. That’s about all we can expect.

Oh, one final note. Acid Mothers Temple, the Japanese band who allowed me to use their song, “Pink Lady Lemonade” for the Solstice trailers, is coming back to town later this month. My friends and I are planning to go. I also plan to take a copy of the book and give it to Kawabata Makoto, the band’s guitarist. He was the one, after all who gave me permission to use the song ^_^

Okay, short babble this time. Hopefully, I’ll be better about updating this blog from here on out.

What would it be like?

2008-01-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

Hello all, and welcome to another installment of Ulises Babbles On and On ^_^;

So what’s been going on? A few things. I already started editing Inventing Vazquez, and am very excited about where it’s going. I don’t know how long it will take me to edit all 850 pages of it @_@, but I’m hoping I can move quickly and get to a second draft by April. I think that’s feasible.

Part of my urgency now is because I’ve begun to think that I will try and find an agent for Inventing Vazquez. After hearing some disturbing news about small-press distributors, I’ve started to weigh all my options. Self-publishing fiction is always a risk; that goes without saying. But when you throw in something as uncertain as the future of small-press distribution into the mix, it increases that risk. And there’s no denying that Solstice wouldn’t have had its success without the support of Biblio Distribution. They’re the ones who got it into bookstores, after all.

Besides, when I start to think of all that we’ve achieved with Solstice, I sometimes wonder what I could have achieved with the support of an agent, a publisher, and a real marketing budget. Consider the numbers. I wrote, printed, distributed, marketed, and promoted Solstice with an impossibly small budget (roughly $6000 less than the standard budget for self-publishing a book). I had to learn and do a lot of things myself (like typesetting, graphic design, and accounting) in order to save costs. Yet despite it all, we’ve sold more than 1,400 copies in less than four months. That’s about 50% of our total print run thus far. We’ve gotten five reviews (and a possible sixth one coming soon on horrorwatch.com), including in premier publications like Library Journal, and all of them have been positive. We’ve turned a profit, and according to the industry numbers, 95% of self-published books fail to do so. Even with a microscopic budget and a lot of improvisation, Solstice bucked the odds and became a small-time hit in its own right (well, it’s a hit in my own mind, but that’s probably because my only real goal was giving it to my family, not making money).

When I consider what I achieved with Solstice, I wonder what I could have achieved if I’d had a real budget to work with. If, say, I had some money to actually buy some promotional space (I’ve targeted some web sites for advertising, but right now I simply don’t have the cash), or the contacts to spread the word, who knows what Solstice could have become. Given the success it had on such a small scale, I wonder what it would have done on a larger scale.

I think this is one of the reasons why I’m considering going with an agent for Inventing Vazquez, or at least try to (you’ve heard the horror stories about finding an agent, I’m sure). I’m nervous about the distribution aspect, for sure. But I’m confident the new novel is better, and will have a much broader appeal for readers (my two test readers are already saying so, and that the book is really funny), and so I think there’s a chance it can perform well in the literary marketplace. So maybe it’s in my best interest to at least try and land a reputable agent, and see how things work.

Of course, how do you market a doofus that writes an apocalyptic novel about the end of the world, and then a comedic satire about a mousy film consultant? ^_^; Oh well…

I’m not adverse, though, to self-publishing Inventing Vazquez too. The fact is, I love the creative control that comes with self-publishing (in fact, we already have a crazy idea for a catchy book cover). I think that’s the single-best aspect of self-publishing; you call your own shots. As long as you’re willing to take the risks, temper your expectations, and do a LOT of work, I think self-publishing is an amazing challenge, and an even better experience.

Speaking of happy novels about the end of the world, my girlfriend and I were doing some brainstorming about The Mourning Syndrome on Sunday, and once we were done, I felt completely energized and excited about writing the novel. I think I was stalling because I was trying to be too clever, and maybe outsmarting myself in the process (not a hard thing to do -_-). But once I simplified things (e.g., a single narration instead of two narrations from different characters), and once we talked about the other main character, things started to open up. I now have a very solid and promising direction for the book, and some chilling possibilities for the main character’s initial antagonist. So I’m going to try and keep working on The Mourning Syndrome alongside Inventing Vazquez’ editing. We’ll see how that works.

Oh, and because I need more to do with my life, I’m trying to get a band together ^__^; Not an easy thing to form an indie rock band with Japanese rock influence here in Michigan, let me tell ya…

Anything is possible

2008-01-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone. A few days late, but wishing it all the same. Hope everyone had a painless transition into 08.

Things have been both busy and quiet here. Next week I pick up Inventing Vazquez again, which is good because I’ve stalled on The Mourning Syndrome. I’m actually giving thought to going with another project, but then, I really do like the idea of MS, so maybe I just need to find the right inspiration.

In the meantime, I’ve got a bit of cool news. We got another review, this time from Midwest Book Review! That’s five reviews (all positive) for a book that was not supposed to get any. Wow. Anyway, I thought I’d recap and post the five blurbs Solstice has received (beginning with the newest one ^^):

“A riveting, original saga.” – Midwest Book Review

“Latino author Silva brings a fresh new voice to the genre in this debut featuring a Latino-Asian hero and expanding the demographic appeal of sf. A good selection for most sf collections.” – Library Journal

“Silva spends much of his time investing in characterisation, bringing the players to life in front of the reader’s eyes…a very impressive launch for an exciting new author.” – SciFiNow Magazine

“This debut speculative fiction/horror novel is reminiscent of The Matrix and John Twelve Hawks’ The Traveler (2005).” – Booklist Reviews

"A clever spin and a birthing of a universe equal to Dick's replicants and humans in Blade Runner, or Marv Wolfman's skinwalkers and vampires in Blade…While Dick's influence is clear, Silva's terrain is a unique one, his style noirish, his female characters strong and tender, ruthless and unstoppable." – Lisa Alvarado, La Bloga

Oh, and Lisa Alvarado over at La Bloga was kind enough to interview me ^^; You can read our conversation here. In it, I also talk a little about Inventing Vazquez, so think of it as a sneak peak ^^;;

On top of that, the book is definitely getting some attention out there. In fact, the president of the company I work at (yes, the President and CEO ^^;) posted a blurb about Solstice on the company Intranet, where he describes it as a terrific book ^^; Angry Asian Man posted a blurb about it on his site (thank you!). And I'm starting to see the book being mentioned on forums and in blogs (including this one here ^^;;; Thank you, Roni!). Total craziness, I tells ya...

I guess it goes to show that anything is possible. That, no matter what people say (e.g., “self-published books are never reviewed, self-publishing is a big mistake, you suck”), you can accomplish anything if you set out to do it right. I mean, who would have guessed it that even a premier sci-fi magazine in the UK would feature Solstice in its book reviews? Or that the Library Journal would review it? Always aim high, I guess. And always take your best shot.

So what else is going on? Well, I’ve got a crazy new idea, one that’s actually been on the drawing boards for years. My brother and I are big Anime fans, and both of us dabble in Anime artwork (him more than me). And for the longest time, we’ve had it in mind to do some kind of manga or webcomic. The other day, it hit me: why not just do it? He’s got the talent and the means now to produce quality artwork relatively quickly. I’ve got the story ideas and writing. So we’re going to consider doing a joint project: a webcomic or *gasp* an actual manga (i.e., a published book). Art is something he loves and is GREAT at (take a look at his latest opus, which I ADORE). And assuming we can find a way to split up the workload and still create something that looks consistent, then why not? Hopefully we can pull it off. In fact, there’s an outside chance we’ll actually do a manga based off Inventing Vazquez! He’s the one who suggested it, and I’m still trying to figure out that angle. But it’d be awesome…

Anyway, that’s the New Year babble. I’ll shut up now.

Moving along with another review (plus some notes about the next novel)

2007-12-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Saludos!

Well, Solstice has just gotten another review! Woohoo!! This one is by Lisa Alvarado, a noted Chicana author (Sister Chicas), poet, and performance artist, and regular contributor to La Bloga! And it’s a good one ^^; In fact, Ms. Alvarado has this to say about the book:

"It's a clever spin and a birthing of a universe equal to Dick's replicants and humans in Blade Runner, or Marv Wolfman's skinwalkers and vampires in Blade…While Dick's influence is clear, Silva's terrain is a unique one, his style noirish, his female characters strong and tender, ruthless and unstoppable."

…....wow ^___^; I highly encourage you to stop by La Bloga and read the rest. La Bloga is a site run by a group of prominent Chicano authors and writers, and dedicated to the reviews, discussion, and exposure of new Latino/a creative voices. Needless to say, I consider it an absolute honor to be mentioned on their site. So Lisa, muchas gracias!!! ^__^

Some other stuff has been going on as of late. Let’s see…

Well, as I mentioned the last time I wrote in this thing, I finished my first draft of my new novel, a comedic satire I’ve entitled Inventing Vazquez. I’ve decided to put the book away for a month before starting on the rewrite, to kind of clear my head and approach the book in January with fresh eyes. But I’m excited about having finished the draft all the same, especially because now I can start thinking in terms of ‘when will this be published?’ In fact, assuming I’m going the self-publishing route again (and given the unexpected success of Solstice, it’s not an idea I’m adverse to), I think I’m going to shoot for an early 2009 release ^^;; Hey, I’m crazy, I know.

Of course, in the meantime, with a month to spare before picking up Inventing Vazquez again, I’ve decided to start working on my new novel. Only problem is…transitioning from Inventing Vazquez’ light-hearted, mirthful tone, to The Mourning Syndrome’s dreary, depressing, and apocalyptic tone, is proving more of a challenge than I thought. I hope to start writing soon, because I really want to get going on it. Just have to finish outlining the plot, the main characters, and a single plot-related question that has, so far, been unanswerable. I guess I have to keep brainstorming. And watching Kairo 15 more times ^^;;;

It’s funny, too. I know some people have expressed concern over my schizophrenic writing projects (i.e., end of the world story, happy story, back to end of the world story, next one probably happy again). And I know that, given the fact that I’m trying to establish myself as a speculative fiction writer, Inventing Vazquez could be a problem to market. Still, I haven’t let that stop me. Not only was the new book a lot of fun to write, but the truth is…it tells a story that I think needs to be told. That’s to say, I have some thoughts on Hollywood and its portrayal of Latino/as and people of color, and Inventing Vazquez gives voice to those thoughts. So I’m not really worrying about whether it’s wise, career-wise, to publish it. I’ll do so regardless, and let the chips fall where they may.

Oh, I’m starting to take up some other projects as well. In fact, I just wrote a review of a Japanese movie called Dragon Head for Quiet Earth, and you can read it here. It’s given me the idea that, considering how much I LOVE Japanese and Asian horror movies, I might start a review blog for them. So there’s that. Also, I’m meeting with Christopher from Urban Molecule next week in NYC, and there’s a chance I might be able to contribute something to them, which would be really exciting. I guess I had to come out of my writing shell at some point, huh? ^^;

Okay, I’ve babbled long enough. And don’t forget to buy your copy of Solstice at our site or anywhere where books are sold! After all, nothing says, “happy holidays, I really love/like/marginally tolerate you, so here’s a joyous gift for you” than a book about the end of the world ^^;;

So very close…

2007-12-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Saludos!

Well, things are a bit quiet for now. And they might be even quieter in a few days. That’s because I’m a chapter and a half away from finishing the first draft of my new novel ^^;; Total madness, I tells ya… Even my girlfriend is stunned at the insane pace I’ve been able to keep up. Although I keep telling her, it’s like this novel is writing itself. Since it’s a much more lighthearted subject matter than Solstice, it was more fun to write, and hence, easier to do so. Of course, it’s only the first draft. And I already have a laundry list of changes in mind. To say nothing of the changes that will have to be made once my editor takes a first hack at it *wink wink*.

At the rate I’m going, it’s conceivable that I’ll actually finish the novel tonight. But, for the sake of playing it safe, I’m going to say that I expect to finish it tomorrow night ^^; Maybe then I’ll share with you all the title I’ve given it ^^;

What’s funny about the whole thing is that, in a way, I’ve caught myself unprepared for the next step: starting the next novel. Yes, the next novel.

See, the thing is, my current novel is a comedic satire about a mousy, soft-spoken protagonist who, literally and figuratively, has to find her voice in order to deal with the film industry. Her character is funny, witty, conversational, and very friendly. For this past year, I’ve forced myself to see the world through her eyes to write her story. And I’ve been saying all along that this novel is a FAR cry from Solstice. Whereas Solstice is about…well…the end of the world ^^;, the new one is more about films and their portrayal of race relations in the U.S. It’s about the things we see, and don’t see, in Hollywood. And it’s supposed to be comedic ^^;

So why is all this a problem for the next one? Possibly because I’m reverting back to my doom-and-gloom style of writing ^^;; The next novel, which I’ve tentatively titled The Mourning Syndrome, is going to be another heartwarming tale about…the end of the world ^^;; Eep. And it’s going to be very eerie, very dreary, and very…um…dark (sorry, couldn’t think of another word that rhymed). In other words, it’s going to be another COMPLETE departure from my current novel.

I plan to put away my current novel for a month once I complete it. That will give me time to forget about it, and then come back to it fresh next year to start working on editing and rewriting it. In that time, I’m certain to start work on The Mourning Syndrome. Which is why I think I’ve caught myself unprepared for it given the frantic pace that I maintained writing this last one. I feel like I’m going to have to switch gears in mid-stride, and start writing a very dark, very creepy story right on the heels of something that was lighthearted and comedic.

I told my girlfriend that, in order to prep myself for it, I might just have to watch Kairo (the original Japanese version of The Pulse) 17 times just to put myself in the mood, although hopefully I Am Legend will work too (I am GEEKED about seeing that one! You know me and my love of all things apocalyptic ^^). So who knows how the transition into The Mourning Syndrome will work out. Hopefully I won’t break something ^^;;

I wonder if I should even start working on that one at all. See, one of the things I’ve also realized as I stand a chapter and a half away from finishing my next novel, is that I have quite a few options open to me. There’s The Mourning Syndrome of course. And there’s the sequel to Solstice that I have planned. And there’s another project I have in mind, a comedy about…the end of the world ^^; That one, in particular, is only on the drawing board, but I think it’ll be a great opportunity to write another apocalyptic novel, but in a way that allows me to use the writing style I used and loved with my new novel. But like I said, that idea is the least developed of all, and my girlfriend really thinks I should work on The Mourning Syndrome first. Especially since its message is more relevant to our current socio-political climate. And, well, I think it’s too soon still for the sequel to Solstice ^^; We’ll see, I guess. It’s nice to have choices, though.

So this week should be interesting. If I can finish my novel, I’m going to throw a party (well, not really), watch a movie…and then get right back to work ^^;

Oh, one more thing. There’s a chance Solstice will receive another review from Horrorwatch.com. I got in touch with one of their staff members, who kindly agreed to read and maybe review the book on their site. That would be huge, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed hard ^^;

Okay, I’ll shut up now ^^;

What a ride!

2007-12-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

I got back from NYC yesterday after taking part in this year's 20th Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair in New York City. What a crazy few weeks these past ones have been! Between two book signings at local Barnes and Nobles and now the book fair, it seemed that November (and early December) were all about getting the word out. Which is good, because that’s the only way people are going to know about Solstice ^^;

The book fair was pretty good. Though none of the big industry names that were supposed to be there showed up, it was still a good chance to promote the book with readers, and to get to meet some very cool people. I ended up selling 10 copies of Solstice, too ^__^

I got to chat with some fellow self-publishers and authors, including Marc L. Abbott who wrote The Hooky Party, and with Polly Frost, an author of erotica who gave me a copy of her book, Deep Inside. Very cool people who were great to talk to and get to know! Did a book exchange with them, so I’m looking forward to reading their work.

Also got to meet and chat with a lot of up-and-coming authors. Two of my customers, in fact—Lauren Small and Fayomi—are writers looking to publish (actually, Lauren is already published) and are considering the self-publishing route for their future works. It was fun to be able to talk with them about the long, but rewarding, process of self-publishing a book. Another future writer, a young man named David, bought two copies ^^; It was great to be able to talk to him about the writing process, and to hear about his great ideas for his first novel. If you’re reading this, David, remember: write, write, write! Some stories have to be told ^_^ Another of my customers was the actual Assistant Director of the whole book fair, Christopher de la Torre, who himself is a speculative fiction writer and member of a coming e-zine, Urban Molecule. Also got to chat with a fellow Latina writer, Jaqueline Donado of NY Book Expo. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to you, but thank you for the copy of your book! I hope you also enjoy Solstice!

Overall, I’d say it was just a rewarding experience because of the many interactions I was able to have with customers and non-customers alike. Since I only sold 10 copies, you can say that I took a big loss on the whole thing (when factoring registration and transportation costs). But I actually see the experience as a complete success. It was invigorating and rewarding just to be there, talking to people about Solstice, watching them take an interest in the story, taking the bookmarks I printed out for the fair. It’s a thrill unlike many others to have others express an interest in your work, even if they don’t buy a copy. And when they do, it’s an amazing experience to think that they’re going to read your words, and hopefully enjoy them.

Being there, I felt part of a writer’s community for the first time. Because, surrounded by writers and publishers like myself, I realized that we are a community, and it’s one that’s always inviting new members. I guess that’s why I love talking to people about writing—I always want others to discover this incredible joy that is writing, publishing, and promoting your work. That’s why I’m always badgering my friends Dan and James into writing. I guess I just want others to be able to share in this incredible experience.

So, thanks to all of you who bought a copy of Solstice at the fair, or who took the time to chat with me, or who just passed by and said hello! Thanks to all of you, including Christopher, David, Jacqueline, Polly, Lauren, Fayomi, and Marc, who shared your works and your ideas with me! Now I gotta get to work and follow up with you!

I’m excited to mention a couple of other things. I’ve now passed the 1300 book sales mark, and my distributor is now recommending I send over another 850 copies even though they still have 355 in stock. I am looking into just sending them my remaining stock (about 1500 copies). And if they sell those…are we looking at a reprint of Solstice??? @___@ Wow…

And the first draft of my next novel is almost done! I’ve mapped out the rest of the story, and I have exactly nine chapters and the epilogue to go! But considering that two weeks ago I was punching out a chapter a day, it’s now conceivable that I can meet my goal of finishing the first draft before the end of the year. The projected page total? A whopping 800-900 pages! ^^;; Eep… I really want to push myself and finish it; my mom really wants to read it, and I’d like to have it to her by the time I go back home for the New Year’s celebration in three weeks.

Okay, I’ve babbled too much again, as usual ^^;;

Milestones, reflections…and another review!

2007-11-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

Well, we’ve reached a milestone…one I wasn’t always sure we’d reach at the start of this long, crazy process. We’ve sold our first 1000 copies of Solstice. In fact, we’re officially on backorder with my distributor as I race to supply more copies of the book. I found out earlier this week. It was a shocking revelation to see that, not only had they gone through my original stock and the replacement stock I’d sent them barely two weeks ago: now they were on backorder for more than 300 copies, and were recommending that I send about 800 copies (more than the amount I originally sent them) in anticipation of upcoming sales. Wow…

I hadn’t expected to reach the 1000-book mark so soon. I mean, sure, the optimistic hope was that, at some point, we’d sell 1000 copies through Biblio and break even on this self-publishing venture. Well, barely a month into the official sale, and we’ve broken even. Money was never an issue; I didn’t go into this expecting to make anything, and I willingly put myself into debt in order to be able to pull this off. My only real goal was to publish the book, and give it to my family. But it just amazes me to think that, already, we’ve achieved a level of unexpected commercial success.

Reviews from Booklist and Library Journal have certainly helped! And, now, we’ve got a new review! A while ago, a user named jimm left a comment on this blog that the book would be reviewed in an upcoming issue of SciFiNow magazine. Well, yesterday, issue 7 appeared at the local Borders…and true enough, there was a review of Solstice. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed. I mean, to be mentioned in the same magazine where things like Star Wars and Star Trek are mentioned, and to be placed alongside Terry Pratchett on the book review page!! WOW! ^^;;; Jimm had some really kind things to say about the book, including the fact that the book is self-published. While I can’t reprint the review here for copyrighting reasons, here’s a blurb:

“Silva spends much of his time investing in characterisation, bringing the players to life in front of the reader’s eyes…a very impressive launch for an exciting new author.”

Take a look, if you can, at the new issue of SciFiNow for the rest of the review! It should be at your local bookstores now ^_^ And Jimm, thank you! I will be sending you a thank you card, so please keep an eye out for it ^_^

I guess I just feel very grateful right now. Not only to jimm and the folks who’ve reviewed Solstice thus far, but to everyone who’s been with me throughout this process, to everyone who’s bought a copy, and to those of you who’ve taken the time to contact me and share your thoughts about the book (including you, Tsubashi-san! ^^). So, thanks to all of you for making this happen.

So what else has been going on? My brother was in town earlier this week, and we ended up having a blast (and by that, I mean we watched a lot of Anime, did a lot of nerdy computer stuff, and generally acted like the total nerds that we are ^^). My brother is like my best friend, so anytime he comes over, it’s just a lot of fun.

What else…oh, my new novel is coming along (page 562 when last I checked). I didn’t do a lot of writing this past week since my bro was in town, but I want to get back into it now, with a (perhaps unrealistic) goal of finishing the first draft before the end of the year. Eep…

Oh, and musically speaking, I’ve started recording songs. I actually recorded three songs (including bass, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and drums) over the past couple of weeks, so I’m kind of geeked about that. I guess, the more I listen to my favorite bands (Dirt Bike Annie, The Snow Fairies, GO!GO!7188, Deerhoof), the more I want to make music like them. Being able to play and record my own songs is kind of like a long belated dream come true. Silly, I know.

Well, enough babbling. Oh, tomorrow is the first book signing, at the Barnes and Noble in Ann Arbor, MI, at 1:00 p.m. And next Saturday, November 17, I’ll be at the Barnes and Noble in Troy, from 2-4 p.m. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures to post soon.

Thanks for reading!

Radio Daze ^^;

2007-10-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, Don and Wilcoy were kind enough to have me on their weekly radio show on Quiet Earth. It was a fun and unique experience, and a total blast to be able to discuss Solstice and apocalyptic fiction/movies in general with two guys who clearly know and love the genre. Seriously, how cool is it to be able to talk about Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days/Weeks Later, and heartwarming end-of-the-world stories with someone? ^^; If you missed the interview, you can still hear it on their archives! Just look for the October 28 show ^_^

Anywayz, this is a short post...thankfully ^^;

Oh, and Solstice is available bla bla bla bla bla ^^;

So I get to write about something other than writing for a change! ^_^

2007-10-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, my good friend Dan and I went to see Polysics here at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit. For those of you who don’t know Polysics, they’re essentially known as a Japanese Devo. They’re a four-piece Japanese band with a sort of surf/techno rock to them. Very quirky, very wild, but very good!

It was, unfortunately, a very short set, with Polysics having to share the stage with three other bands that, in my own humble opinion, weren’t that good. So much so, Dan and I shrugged off the second band, and then left the show two songs into the third band ^^; Polysics were tagged as the opening act, even though they probably should be headlining. But, they didn’t disappoint, even if they only played for about 30-35 minutes.

Their onstage presence was amazing. They channeled so much enthusiasm, so much energy, and so much power into their performance, it made me forget all sense of inhibition. I was jumping up and down, singing along, headbanging, and all the while not worrying that, as a 34-year-old grandpa lost amidst the gaggle of 19 year olds around me, I probably looked silly ^^; Hiro, the lead singer/guitarist, was his usual madman self, thrashing about the stage, screaming out to the audience, jumping up and down, and working magic on his guitar. No one seems to enjoy the music he plays as much as he does. Fumi, the bassist, was her usual rocking self. In fact, I consider her my sensei ^^, because I base my own bass playing style off her. Her fretwork is blinding, and her bass notes are deep and crunchy. Oh, and she’s cute as hell ^^;. So much so, I had to yell out, “Fumi-chan! I love you!” just cos I was being a total doofus at that point, and because, well, Fumi is on my List ^^;. Kayo, the keyboardist/singer, was her usual quirky self. She’s the serious one, the one who maintains a perfectly stoic demeanor throughout the performance, even when she’s jumping up and down waving pom poms or making funny little hand motions to the audience. She’s the perfect contrast and complement to Hiro’s antics.

Polysics is the reason why I wanted to play live. I was reminded of this yesterday, because the first time I saw them was in September of 2004. I remember the day well. Why? Because the day of the show was the day after I completed the first draft of Solstice! How’s that for crazy cosmic coincidences? I only found out about the show the day of, but when I did, I figured it was the perfect way to celebrate the completion of the first draft. And that show went down in my memory as the best show I’d ever seen, ever. It was a show that made me feel like a teenager again. And it was the show that really made me want to renew my pursuit of music, and renew my goal of playing in a band.

I’m grateful that it did happen, and that I did play in a band this year. More so because, believe it or not, our first gig was in that same bar where Dan and I first saw Polysics! I guess it was meant to happen. I couldn’t have scripted it better. It was an amazing experience to know that I was standing on the same stage where Polysics had been. I even went over to the spot where Fumi had stood and touched it. For good luck ^__^;

Wow, I’m babbling again… Anyway, after last night’s show, I guess I want to re-renew my musical pursuits again. My friend Brian is going to loan me some recording gear tonight, so hopefully I can start recording these songs that I’ve written. And while I don’t expect to follow the trend and one day play on the stage of the Fillmore, I do hope to hit the stage again some day, and play with the same passion and energy that Polysics plays with. They are, after all, my musical inspiration ^_^

Oh, *ahem* Solstice is now available wherever books are sold. Or you can order direct from Tragical Mirth Publishing and get an autographed copy ^^;;

P.S.: Tsubashi-san?! Four times????!!! Sugoi!!
P.S.S.: Razorsmile, I passed that message on to the artist! And you're right, I probably didn't! ^^;

The reviews are in! And a radio interview this Sunday!

2007-10-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Wow. So it turns out there were some reviews coming after all, from places I hadn’t expected ^_^ No wonder my distributor has been making some sales. Turns out libraries have been picking the book up thanks to a couple of library-friendly reviews that hit!

So, what are they saying?
Booklist Reviews says “This debut speculative fiction/horror novel is reminiscent of The Matrix and John Twelve Hawks’ The Traveler (2005). Although a little drawn out in the middle and preachy near the end, it indicates that Silva has promise.”

Library Journal says, “Latino author Silva brings a fresh new voice to the genre in this debut featuring a Latino-Asian hero and expanding the demographic appeal of sf. A good selection for most sf collections.”

Wow ^^;; And we’re still anxiously waiting for the next edition of SciFiNow to reach US shores; I believe there’s a review in there as well. So all of a sudden, Solstice is getting some publicity, and some sales. Wow…

It was a shock, for sure, to see those reviews. In fact, I just kind of stumbled into them, so you can imagine how speechless I was once I realized they were reviews. What’s most stunning about it is that, based on what everyone says in the industry, this was not supposed to happen! Reviewers, especially noted reviewers like Library Journal (affiliated with Publishers Weekly, so you know they’re not messing around), have a major bias against independently published works. I knew that going in, which is why I assumed they wouldn’t even look at Solstice. But obviously, something about our media kits and the book itself caught their eye and made them look past the stigma.

So far, from the little that I’ve heard from users, the book is going over well. One person even wrote about it in their livejournal (thank you, razorsmile!). So who knows, maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Oh, and if you’re not doing anything on Sunday night (October 28) at 9:30 p.m., check out quietearth.us. Why? I’ll be on their weekly radio show ^^; Site co-hosts Don and Wilcoy have graciously offered to have me on to discuss the book. If you miss the show, you can always download a copy of it later on. This should be fun ^^;;

Of course, I still worry about how my readers (all 16 of them) will react to the seismic change in writing style once my new novel is completed and published. Moving right along past page 530 (meaning it's now officially longer than Solstice), I guess I’m already looking ahead, trying to figure out how to market it to the same people who thought Solstice—and its heartwarming story about the end of the world—was a good read. Like I’ve said, the new novel is a comedic satire, and although it bears some similarities to Solstice (namely in that Liliana has one vomit scene, reminiscent of Io’s 49 vomit scenes ^^), it goes without saying that the two books are completely different genres. Oh well, I guess I’ll worry about that once I get to that point. Right now, it’s just first draft stage.

Anyway, Solstice is now available wherever books are sold. You may have to ask for it at your bookstore, but rest assured, it can be ordered. Or you can do the easy thing and order direct from me (and get an autographed copy in the process, which will one day be worth…um…56 cents on ebay ^^)! Thanks!

Babble babble babble

2007-10-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s been a while since I last updated this thing. I’m such a bad blogger -_-;

Keeping busy here, as usual ^_^ With less than a month to go before my first book signing (November 10, 1 p.m, at the Huron Village Barnes and Noble in Ann Arbor), I’m still trying to drum up some publicity for it with the local papers. It’s been a slow, difficult process, but there’s some hope that at least one of the major local publications, the Metro Times, will do something on Solstice. I also contacted my old school, the University at Buffalo, and it looks like they’ll mention the book in their quarterly newsletter to UB alumni.

Sales appear to be moving along, which is surprising considering none of the reviews have hit yet. My distributor is already running low on the quantities I sent them originally, and I’m already in the process of having to send a new batch. Wow. While it would be nice to be able to sell more copies directly, I’m excited nonetheless. I’m just hoping people are enjoying the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Speaking of writing, I’m now at page 498 of my new novel, and still no end in sight. This novel’s easily going to be about 700 pages by the time everything is done. I’m sure a lot will get cut out, but then again, I’m sure other things will have to be added in as well ^^;; Eep… But it’s a lot of fun to write. And *gasp* I’ve written my first…*gulp* sex scene ^^;;; My girlfriend thought it’d be a good idea, probably cos she’s a pervert *wink wink*

Came up with a new life goal, too. See, one of the ways I keep myself moving forward is by setting new long-term goals for myself. Last year, it was buying my first house. This year, it was publishing Solstice. I hadn’t expected it, but I also achieved the goal of joining a band and playing a gig. A couple of weeks ago, realizing I’d sort of out-goaled myself for a while, I came up with a new one: record an album. Thanks to the awesome Fender strat my good friend Brian loaned me months ago, I’ve now written about eight new punk/pop songs that I’m going to record soon. In fact, Brian’s going to loan me some kind of recording device so that I can do so. For now, I just want to record a demo, and I’ll probably be playing all the instruments myself (guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. My girlfriend will probably do the vocals, since I can’t sing to save my life). But, I decided that, down the line, once I’ve finalized and worked out all the new songs, I want to record an actual album and distribute it on a small scale. I even have a working band name now ^^;; So that’s a new goal that should keep me busy for a while ^__^;; Because, clearly, I don’t have enough things to do in my life.

Actually, I guess I’m just silly. Goals, I have plenty. I’ve already have two more novels planned after the one I’m currently writing. At the rate I’m going, I’ll probably start the new one in January. I think I just have to keep myself busy. I’m the kind of person that, the more I do, the happier I am. When I don’t produce, I tend to fall into depression. I guess this is one way to stave off depression, huh? Keep myself insanely busy with multiple projects at once ^^;;;

Anywayz, Solstice is now available at bookstores, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble,com, and generally anywhere else where books are sold.

Too many projects! ACK!!

2007-09-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

So anywayz, just a few updates.

It’s official! I’ll be exhibiting at this year’s 20th Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair in New York City on the weekend of December 1-2. I’m really excited about it, not only because it’s a chance to go see my family during a non-holiday period, but because of the exposure Solstice will hopefully get. And, well, it’s my first time at such a thing, and my first pure “business trip.” Yes, I get excited at the littlest things. I’m a nerd. I admit it ^__^

Oh, and I have my second book signing scheduled! This one’s at the Barnes and Noble in Troy, MI, across from the Oakland Mall. It’s for November 17, 2007, from 2-4 p.m. Really excited about that one, since it’s the B&N my girlfriend and I tend to spend most of our time at.

Well, on other literary fronts, my new novel is coming along. Rapidly @_@; I’m nearly at page 400, which is insane considering how much longer it took me to write Solstice (I started writing my new novel at around March). The funny thing is, I see this as being a very long novel, because I still have a lot of scenes and plot points to get to, and our beloved heroine, Liliana, just keeps yammering away! Oh well, it’s a first draft, so I’m sure a lot will be changed, added, subtracted, and forgotten. I guess I’m just having a blast writing that novel. It’s so refreshing to write something happy for a change ^__^

Of course, just last night, I was talking with my girlfriend about the other two projects I want to get to right after I finish writing this first draft of my new novel. One of them is entitled The Mourning Syndrome, and you can actually find a quick draft (very quick draft -_-) of the first couple of pages here. That one promises to be apocalyptic (again), but with more of a horror twist. It’ll be my homage to Japanese horror films, which I absolutely love (Kairo, Dragonhead, Suicide Club, and the Tomie movies being among some of my favorites). So I’m kind of excited to start writing that one.

But, the more I’ve talked about it with my girlfriend, the more poised I am to write…*drum roll* a sequel to Solstice. For those of you who’ve read it, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Um, how are you going to write a sequel to that?!” But, believe it or not, a story is in the works, and, if it’s at all possible, it’ll be even darker than Solstice! ^^;; Eep…

So yeah, I’m entering that phase that a lot of working writers probably enter, the phase that laments that we can’t just quit our day jobs and write non-stop. I wish I could just disappear into my favorite coffeehouse every day (I do like 60% of my writing in coffeehouses) and just plug away at my novels, maybe even working on two of them at the same time. But alas, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon, if at all. So staying up until 2 a.m. will have to continue to be the norm ^^;;

Anyway, as always, I just want to remind you that Solstice is now available at Tragical Mirth Publishing! Thanks for reading!

Wow...

2007-09-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Just had to share a couple of tidbits.

One is that I’m registering to take part in this year’s 20th Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair on December 1–2. After getting some very good advice from another author, Marcus Sakey, I decided to start looking into doing some book fairs as a way of creating some exposure for Solstice. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s the perfect one taking place in, of all places, my home town, New York City. So it’s a chance to not only take part in my first book fair, but also to spend a little time with the family.

But the other item of news has me a bit…excited. I realized just today that I got a comment down on one of my earlier entries (the one entitled The Power of Writing) from a user named jimm. It turns out jimm is reading the review copy of Solstice I sent to SciFiNow magazine. And, as it turns out, jimm is not only enjoying the book, but says it will definitely be reviewed in the next issue of SciFiNow. …………..wow ^_______^;; I’m kind of speechless. Except to say that I can’t wait to read his review, and to personally thank jimm for his kind words. So if you’re reading this, jimm, thank you! I’ll make sure to track down your contact info and send you a more formal thank you!

FYI, Solstice is now on sale at Tragical Mirth Publishing! Order your autographed copy today ^^;

At long last ^__^

2007-09-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official now! Solstice is now available for purchase through Tragical Mirth Publishing! Yay! Gotta make this short since I'm about ready to keel over from exhaustion. But it looks like everything is up and running as it should.

I think I'm too tired to be really excited, but I am kind of relieved that the launch has gone according to the schedule I set.

So I hope you'll stop by, and I hope you'll pick up a copy! You won't be disappointed! Oh, and special thanks to my bro for designing the animated banner, and to my friend and co-worker Mike D. for coming up with those last-minute "order now" buttons.

Less than a week to go

2007-09-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

Things are looking up with Solstice. I have two book signings scheduled for November. One is at the Ann Arbor Barnes and Noble on Washtenaw, November 10, at 1. And the other is at the Troy Barnes and Noble across from the Oakland Mall, but we're still waiting on an official date for that.

What was cool was that the person at the Troy bookstore who took my packet told me over the phone that she'd read the book and “loved it.” Wow. ^^; See, it's so amazing to hear that from a total stranger. It's one thing to hear friends and family say they love your book. I think they're contractually obligated to say stuff like that. But when a stranger says it, it certainly gives you hope that you're on to something.

Anyway, gotta run and get things ready, including setting up my invoicing system, my fulfillment system, a sales tracking spreadsheet, and my personal page. Oh, and band practice is in two hours ^^;; Eep...

Book and Bass Banter ^_^

2007-08-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Things just seem to be getting busier and busier these days. That’s hardly a surprise, I guess. With just a little over a month before Solstice’s release, it’s only going to get busier ^_^

Still working to promote Solstice on the Internet. It’s kind of cool, though, that when I do a Google search for it, more and more results are hitting. I guess, slowly but surely, I’m getting the word out. I’m also hitting a lot of forums, started a new blog at a science fiction site, and generally making myself more visible out there. It’s not easy willingly doing so, given my relatively introverted nature, but I guess it’s gotta be done ^_^

Some reviews might start hitting soon too. Quiet Earth now has Solstice in their “upcoming reviews” list, and one person in their forum has already given some props to the three sample chapters. It’s weird when you see someone other than a friend or family member say good things about your writing. Hopefully there will be more ^_^;

Also went into a Barnes and Noble this weekend to start inquiring about a book signing. Since authors are encouraged to do local book signings, and since you might want to have one scheduled before contacting the local press about your work, I figured it was time to do so. The manager hasn’t gotten back to me yet, but the man who handled my request did look at my flier and enthusiastically said that my book seemed very interesting. So who knows, maybe the cover will do the job of attracting readers, huh? ^_^;

My new novel is coming along as well. I’m at the 170-page mark already, which is far quicker than the pace I had with Solstice. Unfortunately, I’m realizing that novel is becoming a bit more autobiographical than it should be. Which might not be too bad in and of itself, except that the novel is a first-person narration, and the speaker is a woman ^^;; My girlfriend jokes that either 1) I want to be a woman, or 2) Liliana is me in drag. *shudders* Not a pleasant thought ^^;; Anyway, the story is very close to my experiences as a writer of color, so I guess a little bit of autobiographical overlap is unavoidable.

This last weekend was pretty cool for another reason. I mentioned before that I’m now in a new band, Big B and the Magic Bullets, with my good friend Brian. Well, we played this Saturday at the Detroit Blues Challenge. And we didn’t win, but we played very well, I think. In fact, people were dancing, and cheering very heartily between songs. And Brian tells me that the feedback from the people who spoke to him was generally, “You guys should have won.” And, well, considering we’ve only been playing together for about two and a half weeks, our performance was pretty amazing.

What makes me very happy about this whole thing is that I’m now officially part of the band, and I’m with a group of musicians that are both talented and good people. It’s nice to play with a group of guys that don’t say stupid, racially insensitive things at every turn, things that, for the sake of retaining band harmony, you don’t say anything about. That’s what wore me down so much about my old band. Between the constant homophobic banter, and the racially condescending remarks made by one member, and the alcohol/ego issues with the guitarist, I felt that I was biting my tongue all the time. I found myself putting up with crap, just so that I could play gigs. I was glad to leave the band when I did.

And yet, I knew I was going to miss playing gigs. I don’t know what it is, but when I play live, I feel, well…alive. When you’re playing music, and the crowd gets into it, it’s very much a natural high that makes you grateful to be able to do the things you do. And, having been so socially introverted for most of my life, I liked that I was able to partake in something like that, and experience a kind of nightlife I’d never known before but that I’d always wanted. I knew I was going to miss all that, and I did. I missed the feeling of driving to a gig, of sitting back and watching other bands play, of just hanging out and feeling that sense of excitement as show time drew closer. I’m excited that I’ll get to play gigs again, and this time with friends.

I guess I’m just grateful. When I found myself having to leave my other band, I’d felt as if something great was yanked from me. I’d felt that I had been robbed of something I’d worked hard at because of other people’s idiocy. And I’d felt betrayed, first by a drunken guitarist who was happy to boot me despite my standing up for him before, and by a drummer who, despite frequently whining about the guitarist’s alcohol and behavior problems, chose to cast his lot with him rather than with me. But now, with the right people, with people who appreciate music for what it is (a passion, not a ticket to commercial success) and who genuinely enjoy just playing it (instead of just drinking at shows), I feel like I’ve regained that which I lost before.

Now, if my girlfriend jumps in and works up the courage to sing with us, that’d just make the whole thing even sweeter ^_^

Wow, this time I really yammered! So sorry about that. I guess I better get back to work. I have too much to do (including answering some e-mails, especially yours Tsubashi-san! ^^). I promise not to babble on so much next time! ^^;;

Really, not much has happened

2007-08-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger, I know. But really, nothing much has happened in the past almost-month. Really. So what if *whispering* the books got in and I have a bunch of them in my basement as I await the long-awaited launch date for Solstice. So what if *muttering* I updated my web site and started promoting it across a bunch of forums and web sites and begging everyone I know to visit it and pass along the URL. So what if *muttering* I'm playing in my great friend Brian's band, Big B and the Magic Bullets, and we're playing at an upcoming Blues band competition ^^; So what if *muttering* I e-mailed none other than Lisa Alvarado, a great and prolific Latina writer, who has graciously offered to review Solstice? And really, who cares if *muttering* I started up an art page with deviantart, because I figured it was time I started promoting some of Solstice's characters among people who might actually appreciate their origins? ^_^ And, oh, who cares if *muttering* I'm almost at page 150 of my new novel? ^^;;

So really, as you can see, nothing much has happened.

Ugh...

In any event, the date is fast approaching when Solstice will become available, and things are moving along. While it's proving harder than I thought actually spreading the word of mouth, I'm still hopeful that, eventually, it will get out. I already have three people lined up to review the book, and I mailed out close to 30 review packets on the day after the books arrived. And the new trailers I posted on my web site and YouTube will, I hope, at some point start making the rounds. Just have to be persistent.

And within the next week or so, I'm going to start *gulp* contacting my local bookstores to *gulp* inquire about doing book signings. That should be a fun, if terrifying, experience. But it's a big thing. And who knows, maybe then, it'll actually finally hit me that I have a book out. Because, frankly, it still hasn't hit me. When I got the books (after waiting around all day for the carrier to show up...without a forklift! Thank goodness for my girlfriend and some great neighbors, who helped us take all 74 boxes into the house! ^^), I reacted as if I'd gotten a set of guitar strings or something in the mail. The next day at work, my friend Leda (who actually designed the book's cover, and her husband did the painting) asked if I was excited. When I responded in a strangely nonchalant manner, she said, "DUDE! You gotta show some excitement! Cmon!!" ^^; I guess I've been so tied up with the logistics of all this, I haven't found the time to get excited. Oh well. Some day soon, maybe.

For now, I'll keep at this promotion thing. Because it's true what they say about publishing a book; the real work begins AFTER you get the books printed and delivered! Now you have to actually tell people you HAVE them...and that's not as easy as it might seem ^^;;

The power of writing

2007-07-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

The books are scheduled to arrive in a couple of weeks, and everything, so far, seems to be going as planned. I’m halfway through compiling the final review mailing list. And, best of all, I’ve got a couple of folks from Quiet Earth who have agreed to review the book! Considering how stacked the odds are against me that Solstice will be reviewed (the industry is very biased against self-published works), it’s great to know that at least two people will review the book! ^_^

With mid-July almost here, I’m getting really excited about launching the official marketing campaign for Solstice. In fact, last night, I completed a new trailer for it. It’s a shorter teaser trailer emphasizing the Scribe aspect of the novel (i.e., that, in this story, people called Scribes can make anything they write come true). The main trailer, which is now 100% ready to go, focuses on the apocalyptic aspect of the story. I’m planning a third trailer, another teaser, that focuses on Io, the main character. For this one, my brother is lending his vast creative talents. He’s going to (hopefully) render some images of Io that I can then put into a trailer, so I’m really excited about that. Hopefully, the three trailers, put together, will provide a real sense of what the story is all about, and pique the interest of those who see them.

The question now is, do I launch the first teaser trailer on YouTube and my web site, or do I wait a bit more? Decisions, decisions ^^;;

One decision is made, though! I’ve decided that, even though the books will be officially available in bookstores, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com in October and November, I’m going to launch an “early bird” sale on September 15 (the day of Mexican independence, no less). People who want to get the book immediately can buy it direct from my web site. By then, the Tragical Mirth Publishing site will be fully enabled to process credit card and Paypal transactions on a secure server, so I’m hoping the early bird sale will drive enough people to buy it from me directly.

Some stressful times are coming, no doubt, but at least I’ve rid myself of one source of stress ^_^ I quit the band I was in. A bad combination of financial disagreements, alcohol issues, egos, and the prevailing homophobic/semi-racist attitudes among the senior band members made me realize that I was better off moving on. When something as fun as playing music stops being fun because of the people you’re with, you know you’ve reached your end. So at least I don’t have to worry about that anymore ^_^

Which is good, because I’m really getting into my new novel. I completed Chapter 7 two days ago and am at around page 91. What’s weird about it is that it’s a complete departure from Solstice. If I build any kind of fan base with my first novel, I wonder if I won’t shock (or disappoint) them once the next one comes out. Whereas Solstice is a dark, apocalyptic drama, the next novel is a comedic satire. Whereas the heroine for Solstice is this tough, kickass woman named Io, the heroine for the new one is this mousy, timid woman named Liliana who’s hopelessly clumsy and can barely utter a single sentence without stammering and stumbling! ^_^

Still, it’s a novel that deals with something that I feel is very important: namely, Hollywood’s portrayal of people of color. As a Mexican-American, I’ve always been kind of disappointed at how Hollywood chooses to portray not only Latinos, but essentially any person of color. For the most part, we’re either invisible, or we’re stock characters, or we’re comic relief, or we’re criminals, or we’re token characters. The new novel is my way of addressing this. And although it’s meant to be funny, its deeply satirical tone argues that the situation itself is hardly funny.

I guess that’s the one thing I love about writing. When you write, you can write anything you want. I remember when I first started writing “seriously” (i.e., novel-length stuff). Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that serious! After all, my “first novel” was actually a 500-page Anime fanfic (based off the Slayers series) called Nightmares in the Apocalypse (sheesh, am I obsessed with apocalyptic stuff or what? ^^). But even then, I saw writing as a way of telling the stories that I wanted to hear. Of telling the stories no one else was telling. It was then that I truly realized what a wonderful, and powerful, thing writing was. As a writer, you have complete control over the storytelling process.

And when you control the storytelling process, you control everything. You know how it’s like when you’re reading a book, or watching a movie? And something happens, and you wish it hadn’t, or you wish it had been different, or you wish the ending had been better, or you wish the dialogue had been sharper, or you wish the characters had been more likable (or less likeable, depending on your mood)? Well, when you write, it’s all up to you. You decide where the story goes, what the twists are, what the characters will say, and you alone determine the ending. And, well, you decide who the characters are. And that, to me, was one of the most alluring things about writing from the moment I started writing that silly fanfic all those years ago.

I mean, in Solstice, all my main characters are people of color. Io, the main protagonist, is Mexican-Japanese. Her partner, Yuniko, is Japanese. Io’s boss, Anika, is African-American. The other two main characters, Jai Lin and Viala, are Lao. A couple of people asked me why I made, say, Io Mexican-Japanese. My answer: why not? ^_^ Besides, I’m Mexican-American, so of course I wanted a character that reflected and upheld my ethnic background. But I also deeply admire the histories, cultures, and languages of Asia, and I wanted to reflect that as well. When you’re the storyteller, and when you control the narrative, you can make the story, and its characters, reflect the things that are most important to you.

And, frankly, I don’t think there are enough heroes/heroines of color out there in mainstream media, especially films. I don’t see a lot of heroes/heroines out there that make me think, “Oh wow, now THAT’S a strong Latino/a!” Solstice was my opportunity to introduce a few at least. And I’m hoping my next novel continues to do so (Liliana, after all, is also Mexican-American ^_^).

Because, really, I don’t have enough things to do…

2007-06-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

Heard back from my printer. The books are scheduled to ship out in late July, so that’s when I start jumping up and down and exclaiming excitable things in English, Spanish, and possibly Japanese just for the hell of it. That means I have that much time to assemble my final review mailing list, create a bunch of packets, stuff them in envelopes, and have them all ready. That way, when the books arrive, my girlfriend and I slip a book into each envelope, seal it up, and *whoosh* send them out, in the process compiling the largest postage bill of my life ^_^

Things seem to be moving along with Biblio. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve sent them all the necessary forms and application materials. So I guess it’s pretty much official now that they will be handling the distribution for Solstice.

Of course, while it’ll be cool to have my book available at major bookstores, I’m really hoping people buy the book direct from me (hey, you get an autographed copy that way! ^^; It’ll be worth millions…never! ^^;;;). And, I’m going to give folks an incentive to do so. What will it be? Hmmm, you’ll have to wait to find out…

One change to my plans, though: I think I’ll be pushing the start of the main marketing campaign until late July or even August. Since I won’t be able to get review packets out until July 23 or so anyway, it makes sense to hold off on posting the trailer, and creating the rest of my characters’ MySpace pages, until later. (Did I say “rest of”? Why yes I did! My main character, Io, already has one. Want to look her up?) Does that mean I won’t post up at least a “teaser” book trailer on my web site soon? Hmmm…

Speaking of which, I’m discussing revamping the Solstice site with my webmistress ^^; In anticipation of the start of the marketing blitz, I want to make it more robust, give visitors more to check out. That should be fun.

And, seriously, because I have SO LITTLE TO DO, I figured, I should add more things to my list of tasks. Like possibly starting a small freelance art-and-music-video-for-weddings business. After doing the Solstice book trailer, I made a couple of music videos for my friend, Dan. A couple of people, after seeing them, suggested I try and start a side business doing that for wedding parties. So, before Sunday, I’ll have to put up a quick “Portfolio” page on my main TMP site.

Wow, this was a long, babble-filled entry, wasn’t it? ^^; I imagine, as the big day (October 1…maybe…hint hint) approaches, I’ll have even more to babble about. Much to your chagrin.

Oh, and a special HELLO to Tsubashi-san, who has the distinction of being the first person to leave a comment! Arigato gozaimashita!!! And thank you very much for your kind words about Solstice ^_^

We’ve got distribution!

2007-06-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

So things are really starting to pick up speed around here. With the books already in print and scheduled to be delivered to me in July, and as the marketing campaign is almost ready for its official launch, I received some encouraging news on Tuesday. Turns out Biblio Distribution has agreed to distribute Solstice ^_^

While there are many pros and cons with using a distributor (one of the main cons being the percentage they take, which is higher than what bookstores and wholesalers will take), there’s no denying one simple fact. How else am I going to get a bookstore in, say, San Francisco to purchase a few copies of Solstice? Like Dan Poynter says, let a distributor handle the big chain bookstores, so you can focus more on niche markets and independent sales. It’s like outsourcing a big, and messy, part of your fulfillment process.

So I’m pretty excited to now have a distributor who’ll help me get the book into actual bookstores (although I still hope most people will buy it directly from my web site, hint hint! ^^). To me, it feels like Solstice is now a completely legitimate endeavor with some strong backing (first Acid Mothers Temple agreeing to let me use their song, now a national distributor that works with all the big names in the bookstore and wholesale industries). My girlfriend and friends have argued that Solstice was always a legitimate project, but at least it’s starting to feel that way for me.

Of course, I still have to do my part to promote the book. Having a distributor will be nice, but unless I promote Solstice, they’re not going to get any orders from bookstores. The trailer, I hope, will be key in doing this. So far, everyone who’s seen a sneak peek of it has said it is awesome, and creepy! I can hardly wait to officially launch it. I figure its launch will be a good indicator of potential interest in the book. Because it’s one thing to have friends and significant others say good things about your work. It’s a completely different thing to have perfect strangers say them ^^;

As if I don’t have enough to do, I’m also plodding away with my next novel. Already starting Chapter 5, and having a ton of fun writing it. See, unlike Solstice (a happy, apocalyptic tale ^^), the new novel is a comedic satire. I guess it’s a much welcome, and needed, distraction from the rigors of managing a self-publishing venture.

Going to work with my webmaster (or is it, webmistress? ^^) on updating my web site. In anticipation of the marketing campaign, I want to bolster my main site, make it more robust, add in an “author page,” things like that. I also need to connect with my fellow Latino/a authors, because so far I’ve been very insular about all this, and there’s a large network of Latino/a authors out there that I need to start connecting with.

This is, in many ways, all very odd for me. See, I’ve always been a fairly low-key, humble person. I’ve never been one to do shameless self-promotion, but in this business, it really seems that you have no choice but to be shamelessly self-promoting. Maybe even have a bit of an ego. While I’d rather not develop the ego, I guess I have to quickly learn how to promote myself and my work. Oh well.

Moving along

2007-06-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I updated this thing. With the official start of the marketing blitz for Solstice only two weeks away, things are definitely picking up.

For starters, the book trailer is done. And, thanks to some nice voice recordings provided by some supportive friends, the end result is something that has been called “gripping,” “intense,” “intriguing,” and “professional.” I used a lot of different kinds of stock photography from istockphoto.com and similar sites to pull off the visual narrative. And I used some sound editing software to create some very creepy sound effects. In any event, I’ll be posting that trailer on this blog, on my site, and on YouTube on July 1, so hopefully it’ll have the reaction I’m hoping for (“Wow, your book sounds great!” vs. “Uh-huh, and you printed how many of these things?”).

Second, I’m now in the proofing stages with my printer, Edwards Brothers. Yesterday I sent them the okay on the actual text part, and tomorrow I’ll be going to Ann Arbor to finalize the details on the cover. Turns out the proof of the cover was a little too red for my artist’s tastes. She recommended I show them the original painting so that the printers get a better sense of the color matching. So after tomorrow, I can officially, 100% say that the book is in print.

Third, since the book will be ready within six weeks, I have to start prepping the next round of review packets. Who knows if any of the ones I sent with the bound galleys will be reviewed, but hopefully some of my target publications will be intrigued by the book and the materials I’ve enclosed in these packets.

Regardless, it’s a real thrill to know that, sometime in July, I’ll have my first novel in my hands.

Now I just need to figure out where I’m going to fit all of them ^__^;

The Marketing Campaign is Launched!

2007-05-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

So things are starting to move along quickly now. On Wednesday, I received the bound galleys for Solstice, and this morning, they went out to the first batch of prepublication reviewers and two distributors. I guess this is the official start of the novel’s marketing campaign! ^_^

When it comes to having your work reviewed, the odds are stacked against self-publishers, especially self-publishers of fiction (or worse, apocalyptic fiction ^^) like yours truly. But I think that, with the right presentation, anyone can have a fair shot. Dan Poynter, the self-publishing guru, will be the first to tell you that presenting yourself as a legitimate publisher is critical to any self-publishing venture. What I’ve found through my own experience is that there are lots of little ways you can achieve this. And it doesn’t involve spending loads of money on hiring publicists, marketing specialists, or specialty services. It can start with something as simple as a clean, consistent look for all your marketing pieces.

I guess it’s helped me a lot that I work in a marketing department for a Fortune 500 company, in a Creative Services department to be exact ^_^; Where I work, there’s a big emphasis on image standards, so that every piece of marketing collateral produced by the company has a standard, consistent look and verbiage style. This helps to create brand recognition, so that anyone who sees one of our pieces can say, “Oh, this is a [company name] piece.” Even fonts need to be consistent across all pieces. So this helped me create a set of Tragical Mirth Publishing marketing pieces that, like my employer, has a common, consistent look. And this, in turn, has given all my pieces a more professional appearance.

The review packets themselves were in exercise in careful, strategic positioning ^_^ (don’t I sound all knowledgeable and stuff? Yeah right…). The first step was to buy good, black, laminated folders with a business card slot. On the cover of each, I placed a full-color label featuring the novel’s cover art, a teaser tagline, and vital information (ISBN, publishing house, etc). The hope is that it will intrigue them enough to actually want to open up the folder (which, in this industry, is never a sure thing)! In the inner left pocket, I put in a press release, a fact sheet (that again featured the cover art), and an “about the author” flier. In the inner right pocket went the cover letter and a full-color flier detailing the novel, its plot, and its pertinent information. As I mentioned before, every item had a consistent look and feel, with Melior being my font of choice, and blue/green being the company’s colors. So the reviewers aren’t getting a hodgepodge of randomly created fliers and things. They’re getting an information packet that’s reiterating key points, speaking in a consistent tone, and presenting a series of key images (the cover art and the company logo) repeatedly and consistently so as to create that elusive brand recognition.

This is just one thing I hope will present Tragical Mirth Publishing as a legitimate venture, and not just a one-time, vanity-press author trying to make a quick buck. Writing is my passion, and being an author is my ultimate career dream. So I wanted to make sure that passion translated into top-line professionalism when it came to designing this first marketing campaign. Because if a reviewer can appreciate your professionalism, then maybe he or she will be that much more inclined to review your book. So hopefully it’ll work. And if not, well, I blame the Melior font! ^^; And my friend Pam.

The novel’s first big break!

2007-05-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

Something funny happened yesterday on my way to my e-mail inbox. I got a response from someone I didn’t at all expect one from! And the result is a big break for Solstice.

A few weeks ago, my friends James and Dan took me to see Acid Mothers Temple at the Magic Stick here in good ol’ Detroit. It was at this show that I first heard their song, “Pink Lady Lemonade.” As I listened to it, I thought to myself, “This song would be PERFECT for the Solstice book trailer soundtrack!” (Yes, I’m developing a book trailer for Solstice, to be released in July.) So, after the show, I asked my friends what they’d think about me asking the band for permission to use their song for the trailer. They told me to give it a shot, that I had nothing to lose. So I did. I left Acid Mothers Temple a message on their web site’s message board (the only way I could find to get a message to them), asking for permission to use “Pink Lady Lemonade.”

So after pretty much assuming that 1) they wouldn’t respond, and 2) even if they did, they’d say no, it was a major shock when I saw an e-mail in my inbox yesterday from none other than Kawabata Makoto, the band’s awesome guitarist.

In a simple message, he said that it was okay for me to use the song for the book trailer, and that I should send him a link to the video once it was completed.

My first instinct was to e-mail my friends James and Dan with the subject line, “HOLY FRICKIN CRAP!” ^^;

I consider this a pretty huge deal. Not only do I now have permission to use a song I think is perfect for the Solstice trailer, but having the support of a band as well-known as Acid Mothers Temple certainly lends the project a new level of legitimacy. At least, that’s how I feel.

Everything else seems to be moving along well too. The novel’s bound galleys are complete, and I’ll be shipping them off to prepublication reviewers tomorrow morning. I’ve already printed out the necessary marketing collateral (e.g., fliers, postcards), and am a week away from sending the files to the printer to begin the official printing of the final product.

I’m really excited about my other project too. Even though I’m juggling everything else, I’m still trying to find time to work on my next novel. This last weekend, after returning to my main place of inspiration—the local coffeehouse—I churned out almost two chapters, just like that. Needless to say, I’m going to start hitting the coffeehouses again. Considering 70% of Solstice was written in a bunch of coffeehouses, I’d say it’s fairly conclusive that those are my best places to write ^__^

Okay, gonna shut up now. I talk too much. ^^; But check back soon, because the moment I start working on the trailer in earnest, you know I’ll be here, blabbing on and on about how it’s going!

So I'm blogging now...

2007-05-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Several years after everyone's started a blog, here I am. Blogging. Yay ^_^;

Well, I've heard from numerous sources that starting a blog is a great thing to do when you're self-publishing. Which, it just so happens, is what I'm doing. So, let the shameless self-promotion begin!

Anyway, I'm a writer, and I'm self-publishing a novel, Solstice, that's scheduled for an October 2007 release. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about this crazy, but wonderfully fulfilling, process that's called "self-publishing."

Solstice
First off, if you want to know more about the actual novel, you can visit my web site at www.verytragicalmirth.com. It’s primarily apocalyptic fiction, a speculative fiction (i.e., involving science fiction and fantasy elements) book about people called Scribes who have the power to make anything they write come true. The story centers on one Scribe, Nadie, who decides to use her powers to punish humanity for its crimes. It’s a thriller incorporating elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. The first three chapters are available for download.

Why Self-publishing?
What made me go the self-publishing route, even knowing it's a labor-intensive, and reasonably expensive, process? There were actually a few reasons:

One: I’m too much of a control freak. Like anyone who’s written a novel, I’m very attached to my work. The thought of having someone else tell me to change the title, change the names, and change the characters’ ethnicities (my main protagonist, for example, is a Mexican-Japanese woman named Io) didn’t appeal to me. I also heard major publishers don’t really let their authors (especially first-timers like me) provide feedback and/or suggestions for the cover art, and I had some definite ideas on what I wanted the cover to be. So self-publishing seemed like an ideal solution to appease my control-freakish ways.

Two: I tried doing the agent thing in 2006, but after about 15 mailings, all I had to show for my efforts were a stack of form letters that told me nothing about why my novel wasn’t their thing. And it’s not like I even sent unsolicited manuscripts. I followed all the rules, including looking up each agent and sending them only what they asked for (e.g., query letters, first three chapters). So it got kind of disheartening that, despite all the effort that goes into crafting individualized letters, packages, and sending it all off, the most you could hope to get was a photocopied piece of torn-off paper telling you they have no interest in your project. Had I gotten any kind of actual feedback (e.g., “your novel is no good to us because, well, your story actually sucks!”), at least I could have worked on improving my weak points. But how can you improve when no one tells you anything about what you need to improve?

So I came to a decision: if I’m going to invest that much time, and money, into securing an agent, I may as well redirect my efforts towards self-publishing. I’m happy with my decision, no matter how it turns out in October. My book will be done, and I don’t have to spend all these months waiting around for agent replies that might never even come.

Three: My parents. You see, I used to be a grad student at the University of Michigan. But after five frustrating years of feeling significantly dumber than everyone around me, I came to a long-belated conclusion: academia and I didn’t mix. So I ended my graduate career without attaining that Ph.D. my parents really wanted me to get. I left grad school because I knew I wanted to be a writer of fiction. So, in a way, my novel is my dissertation, my gift to my family, and my way of saying, “hey, it’s not a Ph.D., but I hope it makes you proud.”

This gave me all the more reason to want to speed things up. Rather than waiting the (at least) two-year cycle from finding an agent to having your book published by a major publisher, I decided to just skim ahead and do it myself. I made this decision in January: the book’s coming out this October. That’s less than 10 months to get my book printed. I’d say that’s reasonably quicker than 2+ years ^_^

What’s going on now
The novel is actually set to go to print next month, so I’m in the middle of prepping and finalizing the files for that. But the next few weeks will be critical. After all, I plan to launch my marketing blitz in July. Part of this blitz is a book trailer, which I’m currently working on. Book trailers, I think, are a great way to promote a novel because they provide a visual element to something that’s strictly literary. And because my novel is primarily a thriller, I’m incorporating the kind of structural and thematic elements that we’re used to seeing at theaters. At least, that’s my hope ^_^

And, well, I’m also finalizing a lot of the marketing support materials that will go out with the review packets in June. That includes press releases, a bio on yours truly, a flier, and some additional artwork. Most of this stuff I’ve had to do myself because I’m on a shoestring budget. But hey, so far, everything’s going according to plan ^_^;

Anyway, now that I’ve started yammering on and on, I better stop now. So for now, I hope you’ll stop by at www.verytragicalmirth.com. Thanks for reading!